


Tamed

by pictureswithboxes



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-23 10:39:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3765049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pictureswithboxes/pseuds/pictureswithboxes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Commitment, domesticity, tame, they're all words that would normally send SSA Emily Prentiss running for the hills.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Commitment

Emily Prentiss didn’t like the idea of commitment. The very idea of being tied down was suffocating, it caused her mouth to go dry and her palms to get sweaty. Morgan had joked once that she was like a coyote caught in a trap- she’d chew her own leg off rather than be trapped. Emily had to admit that he was completely right, that terror had ruined more than a few relationships in her life.

Her apartment was dark when she got home, the security system armed, and everything was clean, perfectly in place. From what she knew about domesticity, it meant nothing was clean, nothing in its place, and she was sure that it meant there would be sticky fingerprints everywhere. Emily was fine with a cat, thank you very much.

Emily pulled out her cellphone and quickly dialled JJ’s number, she promised to call as soon as she got home. As the phone rang, Emily quickly walked to her bedroom, depositing her ready bag on the bed before sitting down next to it.

“Hello?” JJ’s voice rang out on the other end of the phone. She sounded tired.

“Hey, I’m back.” Emily replied, she could hear JJ let out a deep sigh of relief. “Sorry it’s so late.”

“Em, it’s only eight thirty.” She could hear JJ’s quiet laughter. “Have you eaten?”

Emily’s stomach growled at the mere mention of food. “I had some pretzels on the plane...”

“Come over and I’ll make you something.” There was little room for argument, not that Emily ever would argue against it.

“I’ll be over in a bit,” Emily said, frowning a little. “I have to shower really bad.”

“The shower at my place isn’t broken.” JJ replied, Emily could almost hear the smirk on JJ’s face.

“What about Henry?” Emily sighed, frowning a little.

“It’s Will’s weekend, remember?”

Honestly, Emily didn’t remember. Sometimes she forgot that life for other people went on even when she was away. “... Well now I do.”

“Come over.” JJ said firmly. “It’s been over a week. I miss you.”

“I just need to repack my ready bag.” Emily replied, glancing at the bag beside her. “Just in case.”

“I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Okay.” Emily nodded. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

Emily hung up the phone and tossed it on the bed before standing up. She emptied her ready bag and tossed the dirty clothes into her hamper, where they probably wouldn’t be touched in a week. With a deep sigh, Emily went to her closet and started to grab her clothes, folding and refolding them before putting them neatly in her bag. It took longer to pack when she did that, but Emily knew that she would regret it if she didn’t do it properly.

Shouldering her ready bag, Emily stood up and walked into the kitchen, where she checked Sergio’s food and water. Both mostly full. With a small nod to herself, Emily headed toward the door, arming her security system and shutting off the lights before leaving the apartment. She locked her door, nodded a small greeting to one of her neighbors who was in the hall as well.

“Another case?” He asked as Emily walked by.

“No, Ted, but I am on my way somewhere important.” Emily smiled, taking a turn and entering the elevator.

The half hour drive to JJ’s house only took fifteen minutes, mostly due to the fact that Emily was very... creative with her driving. JJ would tell her that she was an insane driver, just the thought made Emily smile. God she’d missed JJ, even when the blonde was criticizing her driving skills.

Emily never just barged into JJ’s house, it was a respect thing. Or maybe it was ingrained in her from her childhood. She pounded on the door three times and called “FBI, open up,” grinning as she took a step back so that JJ could answer. There were some footsteps and muffled laughter before the blonde answered.

“Hi.” JJ smiled, leaning forward and kissing Emily swiftly on the lips.

“Hi.” Emily replied, letting JJ pull her inside. “How’s Henry?”

“He misses you.” JJ said, the corner of her mouth turning down. “Will was gonna let him stay with me this weekend since you were coming back, but I couldn’t do that to him.”

“You’re a good woman, Jennifer Jareau.” Emily chuckled, kissing JJ again, resting her hands on JJ’s waist and pulling her closer. “How was DC without me?”

“Lonely.” JJ said, not taking her eyes off of Emily’s face. “I missed you. We all did.”

“Well, that’s what happens when we’re in different units, you know that.”

“That doesn’t mean we like it.”

Emily laughed.

“Are you still hungry?” JJ asked after a moment of silence. “There’s chicken in the oven.”

“I’d rather take a shower first.” Emily grinned wickedly.

“And you want me to join you?”

“I thought that was already implied.”

 

* * *

 

“I don’t think I’m all that clean.” Emily sighed as she and JJ were getting dressed.

“Neither do I, but at least we had fun.” JJ replied, turning to look at Emily. “I never get used to this.” Her voice was soft, and if Emily weren’t so used to studying behavior, she would have missed it entirely.

“To what?” Emily frowned, looking over at JJ and frowning at her line of sight.

Emily looked at her abdomen, her frown deepening at the healed stab wound just above her navel. Though, if she were being honest, JJ could be looking at the tattoo that was covering her clover brand, or the three small scars over her right ribs from being far too close to an explosion, or even the gunshot scar on her left arm, there was even a chance that she was looking at some of the older scars from her time with JTF-12. She offered JJ a small smile before tossing on a tank top and walking over to the blonde.

“None of this is a big deal.” Emily said gesturing to her abdomen. “All healed beautifully, not a danger to my life. Promise.”

“I know that they’re healed.” JJ said calmly, placing a hand on Emily’s stomach, over the tank top. “I just don’t like seeing you with them.” A small, dry chuckle escaped her lips. “I sound like an idiot, don’t I?”

“No you don’t.” Emily shook her head and took JJ’s hand in her own, offering her a small, crooked smile. “I feel the same way.” She glanced at the shirt covering the scar on JJ’s stomach. Though she wasn’t sure if that was true, seeing that scar made Emily enraged. At herself, or the man who shot her, Emily wasn’t sure. Even if it had been years now. “It’s okay, and the people who did all this-” With her free hand, she gestured to her stomach. “-will never do this again.”

“That’s because they’re dead.” JJ muttered, looking at the ground.

“I know.” Emily nodded.

It was quiet for a while before Emily’s stomach growled loudly, causing both women to jump a little. They made eye contact before bursting out in laughter. Emily followed JJ into the kitchen, marvelling at how quickly they’d recovered. She was gently shoved into her seat, smiling a little and leaning up to kiss JJ’s lips quickly.

“Here.” JJ put a plate in front her. “You’ve been gone for over a week, so it might not be up to par with the Chinese takeout that you’re used to.”

“I can already feel my arteries unclogging.” Emily replied, taking a bite of her food. “Much better than takeout, Jayje.”

“Don’t lie to me, Agent Prentiss.” JJ laughed as she sat down.

“Like I’d ever lie to you.” Emily grinned, rolling her eyes. “You’d have my head on a stick.”

They fell into a comfortable silence as they ate, allowing Emily to glance around JJ’s house. It was clean, as clean as a house with a child can be, Henry’s artwork and family photos littered the walls, Emily idly noted that she was present in a few, and there were splashes of paint on the ceiling, it’d been there for years and Emily couldn’t figure out when it came from. JJ seemed to notice Emily looking around the house and cleared her throat, causing emily to snap her head back toward her girlfriend.

“It’s exactly the same as you left it, Em.” JJ paused before smiling. “Well, actually, there aren’t as many Transformers in the bathroom cabinet. If that counts.”

“I wasn’t checking for changes.” Emily chuckled, shaking her head. “Just comparing.”

“Comparing what?”

“Living spaces.”

“You’re not profiling my house, are you?” JJ’s smile widened. “Because I could learn a lot from your weird, female bachelor pad.”

“All I’d see is that a happy kid lives here.” Emily said, glancing around. “That his mother loves him enough to document his drawings and put his photos on the walls.”

“Shut up.” JJ rolled her eyes, her tone was light. She was quiet for a moment before frowning a little. “I got a call from my mom yesterday...”

“Is everything alright?” Emily’s face fell, her heart suddenly pounding as her years with the FBI made her jump to the worst possible conclusion.

“She’s fine.” JJ sighed, taking Emily’s hand in her own. “She just wanted to remind me that Christmas was coming up.”

Emily’s brow furrowed. “I know I’ve been gone for a while, but it’s not even the tenth yet...”

“Yeah, I know.” JJ nodded. “But she’s a planner, it’s just something she does. You learn to deal with it.” JJ shrugged before continuing. “Anyway, since I have Henry for Christmas, she... okay, we were wondering if...?”

“If I’d join the Jareaus for Christmas?” Emily asked, her heart was pounding now and her hands were suddenly getting sweaty.

She knew this day would come, they’d been dating for over a year. In fact, it was a miracle that JJ hadn’t asked her sooner. The irrational part of her, the part that was terrified of commitment, kept saying that it was time to run, time to head for the hills and request a transfer to a different department. On the west coast with no cell service, or a deserted island with only tigers to keep her company. Maybe she should take the job that Clyde had offered her with Interpol, leave the country, change her number, identity. A new name couldn’t hurt.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” JJ said quietly. “I told her that you might have work, or that your mom might want you to spend the holidays with her. She’d understand if you couldn’t come.”

Emily was quiet. JJ’s mother would understand, but would JJ? “I’ll have to make a call to my mother to see if she’s gonna even be in the country this Christmas...” She said, her voice unusually high as she spoke. The cracking sounded awful as well. Emily cleared her throat before continuing. “I can’t make any promises, but...”

“Em, you’re sweating and shaking.” JJ said with a frown. “And your voice is cracking like a thirteen year old boy’s.” She took in a deep breath. “I’ve known you for years, Em. I knew how you felt about commitment before we even started dating, it’s not a big-”

“You’re lying.” Emily cut JJ off, pulling her hand away and wiping it on her pants. “That’s too harsh... You’re putting your feelings aside so you can try to placate me. If you want me there, then I’ll go.”

“I don’t want you there if that’s not what you want.” JJ replied, meeting Emily’s gaze. “I’m not going to make you miserable when you’d rather be sitting alone in your apartment, eating cereal with scotch instead of milk and watching ‘Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town’ on cable.”

“I only ever did that once.” Emily sighed, earning a small chuckle from JJ despite herself. “And when you say it like that, it sounds sad.”

“It is very sad,” JJ said, smiling a little. “We drew up a schedule for who got you on what holiday.”

“That’s why Morgan tried to get me to go to Chicago for Thanksgiving two years ago?”

“Yes.” JJ nodded, smiling a little. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to, I’m not going to push you and have you hate me for it later.”

Emily nodded once and glanced around before standing up. “I think... that I need to go home.”

“Text me when you get there, so I know you made it safe.” JJ replied, watching as Emily tossed on her shoes and jacket.

“Okay.”

The drive home from JJ’s was longer, maybe because she was actually eager to see JJ. A feeling of dread formed a pit in her stomach as she took a turn, Emily had made a habit of never taking the same route twice in a row. Sometimes she felt that old wave of paranoia back when she knew she was being watched. No one knew about that. Except JJ, who never judged her for it.

She texted JJ immediately after disarming the security system, smiling at the immediate response. It felt strange to be alone, especially when there was someone out there who would be more than happy to spend time with her. To do anything she wanted, even if what she wanted to do was absolutely nothing.

Emily sat on the sofa and sighed, leaning back and glaring at the TV, which was off. Sergio appeared out of nowhere and hopped up onto her lap, rubbing his face on her neck and putting all of his weight on her chest. A sigh escaped Emily’s lips before Sergio found the need to nip her ear gently. She didn’t care if they were called “love bites,” they sucked and she hated them.

“Serge, please.” Emily groaned, scratching behind his ears before her phone went off. “Agent Prentiss.” Emily answered, her tone suddenly serious.

“Wow, Em.” Garcia laughed on the other end of the phone. “Were you expecting someone important?”

“Hello, Garcia.” Emily smiled wryly. “What do you need?”

“Oh, nothing special.” Garcia’s tone changed suddenly, causing Emily’s brow to furrow. “Just called my best friend to see how she and her boo were doing after an extended case, only to find out that they weren’t doing very well and that my girl is completely and utterly upset. And when my friend is upset, I need to find out who hurt her and get revenge, even if the person I’m getting revenge on is my other friend. So care to explain before I destroy your credit score and find more embarrassing pics of you from high school?”

“There’s a lot to hate about you, Garcia.” Emily sighed, sitting up and patting Sergio’s tummy, prompting him to run along.

“And even more to love.” Garcia replied, there was no humor in her tone. “Spill before I get mad.”

“Her mom wants me to spend Christmas with her.” Emily said quietly, saying it out loud made it sound ridiculous. “Garcia, I can’t spend Christmas with JJ’s mom.”

“Seriously? That’s it?” There was a deep sigh on the other end of the phone. “You’re lucky that I am currently very comfortable on my couch right now because if I weren’t, I’d be at your house in a minute to slap you right in the mouth.”

“Garcia, I-”

“I know that you’re the cool and stoic bachelorette who has all the men and women falling head over heels for you, giving you the pick of the litter-”

“-Garcia-”

“-I know that with those legs, you could have anyone. But you didn’t pick anyone, you picked my best friend!

“-Garcia, please just-”

“You picked someone who is looking for a relationship, and now you have her thinking that your stupid fear of commitment is her fault!”

“Garcia, listen to-”

“No, you listen to me, Emily Prentiss. You are going to call Jennifer Jareau and apologize for being a cowardly piece of human excrement before-”

“Penelope!” Emily shouted, now she was irritated. Her hands were shaking, and she was sure that she’d end up throwing her phone across the room if she weren’t careful. “Shut up for a minute and let me explain, okay?!”

Garcia was quiet for a moment, composing herself. “The calling you a piece of shit was uncalled for, I’m sorry. Please explain yourself.”

“Thank you.” Emily said, unconsciously touching the tattoo on her chest. “And I forgive you for calling me a piece of shit.” She took in a deep breath. “I’m not good at dating, Garcia.”

“I know that. I’m friends with JJ, remember?”

Emily let out a dry chuckle. “I know,” Emily paused. “This is the longest relationship that I’ve been in since...”

“Since who?” Garcia sounded curious, almost too curious.

“Since I was undercover with Interpol.”

“... Are you talking about Doyle?”

“Unfortunately.” Emily sighed, listening as Garcia took in a deep breath. “And we all know how well that ended.”

“How it possible that the longest relationship you’ve ever had was completely fake ended with an arrest and the fake killing of a child?”

“I have a set of rules that I follow, and-”

“You broke them when you started dating JJ, right?”

“For the most part.”

“Have you told her?”

“JJ knows about the rules.”

“Why are you so scared to go visit with JJ’s mom?”

“Meeting the family makes it real.” Emily replied calmly. “Garcia, relationships have two endings, marriage and break ups. Even then, half the marriages break up! Do you know what the odds of staying together and not hurting anyone are?”

“So you’re hurting her because you don’t want to hurt her?”

“... You should interrogate unsubs.” Emily laughed dryly.

“I’m waiting.”

“I don’t want to get her hopes up.”

“Look, JJ has such low expectations for you that it’s almost sick.” Garcia sighed, sounding annoyed. “She says things like ‘Em stayed the night this weekend’ and ‘she offered to pick Henry up from daycare today’ that’s just normal one year relationship stuff.” Garcia paused. “You’re in a grown up relationship now, sweetie. One that isn’t undercover, and hopefully it won’t end with you being stabbed with a table leg and JJ being shot in the neck by a British sociopath.”

“I’m hoping that those were all one time things.” Emily said with a frown.

“You’re in different units now, so you won’t see each other as often.” Garcia ignored Emily’s statement. “And that means that you have to cherish your time together and not be a baby about holidays.”

“Thanks, Garcia.” Emily said, frowning when she heard Sergio knock something over. “What do you recommend I do?”

“I recommend that you call JJ, apologize for being a jerk, then tell her that you’ll be happy to spend the holidays with her family because you love her and because Sandy makes awesome cookies that you want to bring home to me.” Garcia sighed. “And I also recommend taking a deep breath because you’re about to take the plunge into some serious relationship waters. If you’re happy with JJ, the relationship is going to mature and you’re gonna need to mature with it.”

Emily nodded and stood up. “You’re right, Garcia.” She mumbled, walking toward the front door and throwing on her jacket before arming the security system. “I’ll talk to you later...”

“Of course you will, you’re gonna need to tell me exactly what happened.”

“Yeah.” Emily turned off the lights and grabbed her keys before leaving the apartment. She almost forgot to lock the door. Almost. “I will.”

“Go get your girl, Agent Prentiss.” Garcia smiled before hanging up.

Emily was incredibly creative with her driving, topping her usual driving record by making it to JJ’s house in eleven and a half minutes. She knocked on the door politely, this was not the time to pound on it and shout. There was no muffled laughter accompanying the footsteps as JJ came to answer the door. No smile on JJ’s face as she opened it.

“Hi.” JJ didn’t kiss her.

“Hi.” Emily wasn’t pulled into the house. “Can I come in?”

JJ nodded and stepped to the side, allowing Emily to enter. “What’s up?”

“Garcia called.” Emily said, looking around the home and frowning a little. Her apartment wasn’t a home, JJ’s house was. “She told me that I was a human piece of excrement and wanted to slap me in the mouth.”

JJ chuckled. “I didn’t tattle, you know.”

“I know.” Emily nodded, closing the front door. “She also told me to call you, but this needed to be done in person.” A look of horror formed on JJ’s face and Emily backpedaled quickly. “That sounded a lot like the beginning to a break up talk, but it’s not. I swear!”

Relief washed over JJ’s features as she let out a breath. “Okay.”

“I just wanted to know what kind of stuff your mom likes to get as gifts.” Emily said, smiling at the surprised look on JJ’s face. “I can’t just show up at your mom’s house empty handed, can I?”

“You’re gonna come to Christmas?” JJ asked, a smile forming.

“If I’m in town.” Emily replied, she let out a nervous sigh. “I can’t make any promises when it comes to that.”

Instead of answering, JJ chose to grip the front of Emily’s jacket and tug her into a deep kiss. Emily stood frozen for a moment before gripping JJ’s waist and pulling her closer. One of JJ’s hands moved to the back of Emily’s neck, pulling her in deeper while the other cupped her cheek.

“You don’t have to do this all at once.” JJ murmured when she pulled away to catch her breath. “You know that right?”

Emily rested her forehead against JJ’s, making eye contact. “I want to be with you, JJ.” She said, noticing the small smile that graced JJ’s features. “And relationships mature over time, so I need to mature too.”

“And Garcia calling you a piece of shit led you to this conclusion?” JJ chuckled, leaning up and capturing Emily’s lips briefly.

“She did more than just that, but essentially yes.” Emily nodded. “She also said that your mom makes amazing cookies, and you know that I need to see something to believe it.”

“Well then you will be pleasantly surprised because my mom makes the best cookies in the universe.”

 

 


	2. Trust

“Shit!”

It happened in a flash, Emily and her team were chasing the unsub through the empty warehouse where he had held his victims. The unsub turned a corner and ran up a flight of stairs, taking a chance to turn and shoot his gun twice, hitting Emily once in the right bicep and again in the lower abdomen. Thank god for kevlar.

“You’re hit.” A SWAT member said as the others hurried past her.

“I’m fine.” Emily shook her head, leaning against the wall and letting out a breath.

She listened as the unsub was arrested and her new unit chief called for an ambulance. They didn’t know that the unsub had a gun on him, she was lucky that his aim was awful. Though, it was hard to feel lucky when her arm was gushing blood after a piece of metal whizzed right through the muscle and bone. Not to mention the bruise that she felt forming from the shot that her kevlar had protected her from.

“Let’s get you to the hospital.” Her unit chief said, helping her up and leading her down the stairs.

“I don’t need a hospital.” Emily said as she was handed off to the EMTs.

“Ma’am, you were shot... You need stitches, at least.” An EMT said, his brow furrowing as he looked to the unit chief.

 

* * *

 

Emily’s arm had been stitched and bandaged. The doctors had said she was lucky that the bullet didn’t hit the bone, and she had to agree. She’d rather be on desk duty for maybe one case, if the team wasn’t lucky that is, than have to deal with a broken arm and no work in the field for a month. Though, Emily could go without the pain medication that made her a little dizzy.

“Can I go yet?” Emily asked when a nurse came by to check on her.

“You have to be checked out by a member of your team or your health care proxy to check you out.” The nurse replied, frowning a little.

“But we’re in D.C.!” Emily exclaimed, throwing her good arm into the air. “I live ten minutes from here!” She let out a deep sigh. “Can I please get an AMA form?”

“Emily Prentiss, you’re not planning on signing an AMA and taking a cab home, are you?”

Emily looked up to see JJ standing beside the doctor, holding a wheelchair. A frown formed on her face when she met JJ’s eyes, there was no way that she was going home tonight, let alone walking out of the hospital. She had been silent for too long, causing JJ to roll her eyes and let out a dry chuckle.

“Of course you were.” She sighed, pushing the chair toward the bed. “Get in the chair, Agent Prentiss, I’m taking you to my place.”

Emily climbed off of the hospital bed and into the wheelchair. “What about Henry?”

“Will’s sister is getting married, Henry wanted to go to the wedding.” JJ replied, turning the chair and pushing Emily out of the ER. “I already filled out the paperwork to take you home, which is why you had to wait longer than fifteen minutes before you were let out.” JJ paused, gently smacking the side of Emily’s head. “Will won’t drop Henry off until tomorrow night, and you’re not going home alone.”

“I need to take care of Sergio.” Emily sighed, glaring at the sling that held her arm.

“Garcia’s already kidnapped him.” JJ said, smirking at the irritated look on Emily’s face. “She said she’s gonna use him to practice her witchcraft.”

“Could you tell if she was joking or not?” Emily frowned a little when a couple of hospital workers met them at the doors.

JJ shrugged and helped Emily stand up before giving the chair to the workers. Emily followed JJ to her car and flopped into the passenger seat, frowning a little when JJ had to buckle her seatbelt for her. They were silent as JJ pulled out of the parking lot and drove down the street.

“I thought we were going to your house?” Emily mumbled when JJ took a turn that Emily didn’t recognize.

“I have to pick up the script your doctor prescribed for pain.” JJ replied, her tone slightly clipped. “And you’re taking the pills, I don’t want to hear one complaint, understand?”

“Okay.” Emily nodded as JJ pulled into the pharmacy parking lot.

“I mean it,” JJ said, parking the car and staring Emily down. “If I hear one complaint about not wanting to take your meds, I swear I will force them down your throat.”

“Well, I’m not really in any position to fight you, am I?” Emily smiled, moving to unbuckle her seatbelt.

“I’ll be right out.” JJ said, the corner of her mouth turning up. “Besides, I don’t think it’ll be good for your ego to have to be buckled in twice.”

“You might be right.” Emily nodded, leaning back in her seat. “When are these meds supposed to wear off?”

“In about an hour or so.” JJ replied before climbing out of the car. “See you in a minute.”

Emily sighed and stared at the exterior of the pharmacy. In the back of her mind, she knew that JJ had her best interests at heart, even if it meant that she’d probably have an FBI agent pinning her down to force feed her pills. More often than not, she dealt with her injuries by herself, usually holing up in her apartment for a couple days, living off day old takeout or anything that she could eat without irritating any wounds. The hardest time she had was when she’d gotten home after being hit by a truck, it was very difficult to cook with a concussion.

“Hey.” JJ said, climbing into the car with a white paper bag in her hands a few minutes later. “Sorry it took so long, there was a line and a crying baby.” JJ paused, leaning in and kissing Emily’s lips quickly before she buckled up. “I can’t believe you were shot.”

“I’ve been shot before.” Emily shrugged, or at least tried to, the bullet wound on her arm and the sling made that a little difficult.

“Yeah, and I didn’t like it then, either.” JJ rolled her eyes and started the car. “How’s the arm?”

“It’s not bothering me yet.” Emily replied quietly. “You didn’t have to spring me, you know.”

“Really?” JJ cast Emily a disbelieving look. “You know that I couldn’t let you take a taxi home, and last time you tried to take care of your injured self, you lived off of pizza and cereal.” She turned and gave Emily a bright smile. “Which is even sadder considering the fact that you can, in fact, cook.”

“It’s hard to cook with one hand, babe.” Emily replied, offering a crooked grin. “How am I gonna hug Henry like this?”

“I think he’ll do all the hugging for a few days, Em.” JJ said, frowning a little when someone in a blue camry cut her off. “I wish I could arrest bad drivers.”

“If you had your way, half of DC would be in prison.” Emily chuckled, earning a smile and a wink from her girlfriend.

“You know it.”

They were quiet for a while until JJ parked in front of her house. JJ asked if Emily needed help getting unbuckled, earning a glare from the brunette. It took her two tries before she was freed from the car, frowning at the laughter that came from her girlfriend before heading to the house.

“When was the last time you ate?” JJ asked, helping Emily sit on the sofa.

“A couple hours before I was shot.” Emily replied, smiling a little when JJ leaned down and kissed her again.

“I made lasagne five minutes before I got a call from your unit chief.” JJ said, moving toward the kitchen. “I’m going to eat some, do you want any?”

“That depends,” Emily leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. “Would Rossi eat it?”

“Rossi will eat most anything, then complain about it later.” JJ shrugged, getting out two plates. “How’s your arm?”

Emily frowned and moved her right arm experimentally, wincing a little. “It only bothers me when I move it.” She replied, glaring at her arm. “I don’t need the pills yet.”

“You’re taking them in twenty minutes, whether you like it or not.” JJ said firmly, digging through the silverware drawer. “It’s non-negotiable.”

“Everything is negotiable, Agent Jareau.” Emily called back in a teasing tone. “But I won’t try and get out of it, seeing as you’re my ride home and all.”

JJ sat down beside Emily and put a plate in her lap, offering a small smile before her stomach growled. With a quiet laugh, Emily took the fork in her left hand and made an attempt at eating. She idly noticed JJ’s eyes on her, but ignored her. Emily was a grown adult, she didn’t need someone to help her eat.

“If you spill on my couch, I’ll be forced to cut your food for you.” JJ said, keeping her tone light. “And yes, I do value my furniture more than I value your big ego.”

“I’ll be extra careful.” Emily smiled, taking another bite of her food. “Promise.”

“Good, I already have Henry spilling on my furniture, I don’t need an adult doing it either.” JJ nodded once before frowning a little. “I’m sorry I was so short with you earlier.” She sighed.

“It’s alright.” Emily shrugged her left shoulder. “You were worried and annoyed, I shouldn’t have tried to sign an AMA and go home...”

“Or you could’ve called me.” JJ mumbled, setting her plate on the coffee table. Emily mirrored the action. “Em, we’ve been together for two years in April, I called you when I got into a fist fight with an unsub, and I didn’t even need a hospital visit-”

“I know.” Emily smiled a little. “We had to cancel our date because you would’ve looked like a battered wife.”

JJ’s frown deepened. “I got a call from your unit chief, if you got a call from Hotch telling you that I was in the hospital, what would be your first thought?”

“I would think that you were dead.” Emily said quietly, looking at the floor.

“Yeah.” JJ said, letting out a deep breath. “And just so you know, finding out that you were ‘just shot in the arm ’ wasn’t that much of a relief either.”

Emily looked up at JJ and bit her lip. The blonde’s eyes were red with unshed tears, though Emily was sure that other people wouldn’t notice, it was only a slight change in color. She gently lifted her good hand up and patted JJ’s knee before taking the blonde’s hand in her own. JJ didn’t pull her hand away, Emily counted that as a win.

“I’m sorry.” Emily mumbled, the corner of her lips turning up when JJ looked at her. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“Of course you didn’t.” JJ scoffed a little. “You never do.”

“I know.” Emily frowned.

“I’ve seen you deal with on the job injuries before,” JJ said calmly. “It’s not pretty, Em. You might not see anything wrong with eating cereal out of the box and drinking milk straight from the carton, but grown ups don’t do that. They let their girlfriends take care of them, it’s a trust thing. It’s how grown up relationships work.”

“I trust you.” Emily said immediately, her brow furrowing. “I trust you with my life, I have trusted you with my life.”

“I know you like to think that you’re okay on your own, but I want to help.” JJ said before letting out a dry chuckle.

“Why?”

“Because I love you and I hate seeing you hurting.” JJ sighed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

A small smile formed on Emily’s face as she shifted in her seat to meet JJ’s gaze. When she turned slightly, her bad arm suddenly hurt like hell. Emily let out a pained gasp and immediately put her good hand on the wound, hoping that the pressure would help stop the pain. It didn’t, and the wound still felt like someone was shoving a hot iron into her arm.

“I’ll get your medication.” JJ said, standing up quickly and walking into the kitchen.

At first, Emily wanted to tell JJ to leave the pills, that she didn’t need them. That is until she remembered JJ’s threat from earlier, she really didn’t want to be pinned down and have pills shoved down her throat. Either way, she’d be taking the pills, so she might as well take the more painless route.

Emily smiled when JJ returned with a glass of water and a couple pills in her hand.

“Here.” JJ put the pills into Emily’s hand and set the glass down on the coffee table.

“Thanks.” Emily said, quickly tossing the pills in her mouth and taking a sip of the water to wash them down. She noticed that JJ was watching her closely before opening her mouth wide, showing that she did, in fact, swallow the pills without a fight. “There’s no need to double check.”

JJ was silent for a moment, not taking her eyes off Emily’s face. “I think we need to get you back to the hospital.”

“What?” Emily’s brow furrowed.

“You definitely have a concussion or something.” JJ smiled widely, lifting her hand up to cup Emily’s cheek. “There’s no way that you’d actually take your pain medication unless there was something seriously wrong.”

“Jayj, I was literally just shot,” Emily grinned, earning a small frown from JJ. “What kind of idiot wouldn’t want to take pain killers after that?”

“There’s a lot to hate about you, Agent Prentiss.” JJ laughed, pressing a chaste kiss to Emily’s lips.

“Like what?”

“Well, you’re the most stubborn person that I’ve ever met.” JJ replied, kissing Emily again quickly. “You’re too smart for your own damn good,” She kissed the corner of Emily’s mouth. “You can’t keep your sarcasm under control.”

“These all sound like pretty good things.” Emily said, leaning forward to capture JJ’s lips, wincing a little when she tried to move her right arm. “Getting shot sucks.”

“I know, right?” JJ sighed.

Emily rolled her eyes and leaned back into the sofa, frowning a little when her eyelids started to droop. She hadn’t realized how tired she was, though it was probably a side effect of her pain medication mixed with the actual shock of being shot. Despite trying to add logic to what was happening, Emily still felt herself nodding off a little.

“Tired?” JJ asked, a smile playing at her lips.

“Little.” Emily hummed.

“Well, we might as well get you to bed.” JJ stood up and grabbed Emily’s good hand, tugging her to her feet. “Come on.”

JJ led Emily to the bedroom and had her sit on the bed. Emily watched as JJ dug into her drawers and pulled out some of the clothes that Emily had left over. With a small frown, JJ paused before undoing Emily’s sling.

“I’m gonna help you get changed, okay?” JJ said, not waiting for Emily to answer before pulling Emily’s shirt off. “Thanks for wearing short sleeves today.”

“Mhmmm.” Emily nodded, frowning a little at the tank top that JJ had gotten out for her. “How are we gonna get that on me?”

It took all of five minutes for JJ to finish helping Emily get dressed and another two to help her situate the pillows properly so she could sleep. It was incredibly uncomfortable, but Emily couldn’t bring herself to care. She leaned her head back, idly noting that JJ had left the room.

“Hey.” JJ said when she reentered the room. “You asleep yet?”

“Not yet.” Emily sighed, her eyes still closed.

“You should really go to sleep, Em.” JJ replied quietly.

Emily hummed and listened as JJ tossed a couple pillows on the bed before digging around in her drawers for some pajamas. She heard JJ change her clothes and toss the old ones into the hamper before climbing into bed. Usually JJ would just flop face first before she got situated, but tonight was different and Emily was grateful.

“You don’t have to go to bed so early.” Emily mumbled, smiling a little when leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to her lips.

“What else am I gonna do?” JJ asked with a small chuckle. “Garcia’s got a date, Morgan’s at one of his properties, Hotch has Jack, Spencer is going to this shadow puppet theater thing that sounds horrible, and Rossi’s probably drinking scotch alone and happy, sleeping with you sounds like the only option I have if you ask me.”

“Isn’t it always, though?” Emily replied, opening her eyes and turning her head to meet JJ’s eye.

“I can think of something else I’d rather be doing.” JJ smirked, kissing Emily again. “But unfortunately, you had to get shot.”

Emily’s smile widened. “I’ll be better in a couple days, just be patient.”

“Patience.” JJ scoffed, rolling onto her back. “That’s rich coming from you, Agent Prentiss.”

“I was literally just shot, be nice.”


	3. Domestic (...ish)

Emily watched as JJ paced through her living room, looking utterly livid, only slightly relieved that she wasn’t the one that made her so agitated this time. With a small frown, she listened as JJ grumbled to herself about how ridiculous it was that she had to work a case in Oregon the one week that Will was spending in New Orleans with his old cop buddies and her mother was on a Christian retreat. Her frown disappeared after a moment, though, morphing into a small smile and causing JJ to freeze and glare at her.

“You know, it’s a little weird for you to be smiling when your girlfriend is distressed.” JJ snapped, turning toward Emily fully and placing her hands on her hips.

“Jayj, I just realized something.” Emily said, ignoring the venom in JJ’s tone. “I’m an adult.”

“... Congratulations.” JJ replied, her brow furrowing.

“I’m an adult who has the same work hours as you and a team that’s not on rotation right now.” Emily rolled her eyes, leaning back in her seat. “An adult who happens to love you and your son. And I can also make like five meals and I know some really good take out places, so he won’t starve.”

“Are you sure about this?” JJ asked, looking both relieved and terrified at the same time. “I mean, you’ve babysat before, but... we don’t know how long this case will last, and I don’t want to put you out... And Henry might break your stuff-”

“First off, I’ll stay here where Henry’s toys and bed are.” Emily said calmly, smiling a little as she thought about spending her time with Henry. “Second, I’ll bring Sergio over to distract him if you’re gone for more than four days, third, I’m awesome at talking and interacting with children, which you already know, of course.” Her smile widened. “And from past experience, I’ve been really good at dealing with my significant others’ children.”

“You’re not going to fake my child’s death are you?” JJ offered Emily a wry smile.

“Not unless it’s absolutely necessary.” Emily shook her head. “But if I need to, you should know that I’m kind of the expert on dying, so he’ll be in good hands.”

“I know we’re joking, but I need your word on this, Em.” JJ chuckled. “Do not fake kill my son.”

“I swear.” Emily glanced at her watch. It was just after ten at night, and JJ had to leave for Oregon first thing in the morning. “I don’t need any debriefings on his schedule, unless he’s doing anything different with his time that I don’t know about...?”

“No, nothing out of the ordinary.” JJ shook her head and sat down, smiling a little at Emily.

“And he’s not old enough to drink coffee yet, either?”

“Absolutely not.”

“But I can give him ice cream sandwiches for breakfast, right?”

“Em!” JJ slapped Emily’s stomach and let out a loud squeak when Emily lunged forward and wrapped her arms around her.

“We can’t do anything tonight.” Emily murmured, pulling JJ close and kissing her neck softly. “You need your rest, but I promise when you get back... you’ll be very glad that you waited.”

“You’re very rude, you know.”

 

* * *

 

Emily sighed as she left the office fifteen minutes earlier than she normally would have so she wouldn’t be late picking up Henry from his daycare. She’s already told her unit chief about the situation, only to be reminded that she almost always stayed later than she had to, as did JJ. The thought made Emily freeze and immediately rethink her definition of working late.

“Emily!” Henry exclaimed, running toward Emily’s car with a wide grin on his face. “Mommy said we were having a sleepover! Does that mean we can have pizza for dinner!?”

“I’ll think about it, buddy.” Emily replied with a smile as she opened the door for the little boy.

“Can we make a fort?” Henry asked, his smile widening.

“Not tonight, but maybe tomorrow.” Emily said, climbing into her seat and starting the car.

“How long is our sleepover gonna be?”

“I don’t know, it depends on how soon your mom can catch the bad guys.”

“How come you’re not fighting bad guys with her?”

“I’m not on the same team as your mom.”

“Why?”

“Because of our relationship, buddy.” Emily sighed as she deliberated running a stoplight in order to get to JJ’s place faster.

“What does that mean?” Henry asked, now looking thoroughly confused.

“It means that our bosses were afraid that dating would...” Emily paused, frowning a little as she tried to string together a child appropriate explanation as to why she was transferred. “They were afraid that being together would hurt our team,” She looked at him through the rearview mirror, giving him a small grin. “We have to love our team equally, so if your mom and I were on the same team, it wouldn’t work very well, would it?”

Henry nodded once. “That makes sense.”

Emily was quiet for a moment. “Do you like cats, Henry?”

“Yeah!” Henry grinned, bouncing in his seat.

“Well, my cat, Sergio, is gonna be staying with us for our sleepover.”

“Really?!”

Emily bit back a sarcastic response and merely nodded as she pulled up to JJ’s house. She helped Henry out of the car before grabbing his backpack for him and pulling out her overnight bag. A smile formed on Emily’s face as she watched Henry run around his front yard, whooping and kicking up dirt.

“Come on, buddy.” Emily called, when she unlocked the front door. “Your mom will kill me if I don’t feed you.”

“Do you know how to make spaghetti?” Henry asked as he entered the house, kicking off his sneakers as soon as he walked through the door.

“Yeah.” Emily nodded, following the little boy’s lead and taking off her heels before closing the door. “Do you have any homework?”

“I have a math sheet.” Henry replied, snatching his backpack out of Emily’s hands.

“Can you do your math sheet while I make dinner?” Emily smiled, setting her bag down beside the sofa and walking into the kitchen.

Henry was silent as he dug through his backpack and pulled out an Ironman folder with a sticker that read “homework” on the top, right corner. Emily watched quietly as the little boy grabbed a pencil and threw his worksheet on JJ’s coffee table before getting to work. They were quiet as they worked, with the exception of Henry’s occasional question about his homework, which Emily would answer, working very hard on her part to not just give him the correct answer to the problem.

“Dinner’s done, Henry.” Emily said, pulling out the plates and silverware. “How’s your math sheet going?”

“Two more questions.” Henry replied as he stood up and ran to the kitchen. “Did you make it like my mom does, or like my dad does?”

“How many different ways are there to make spaghetti?” Emily asked, frowning a little.

“My dad mixes the sauce and the noodles together, but my mom puts the sauce on the noodles.” Henry said, sitting down at the dinner table. “I like it both ways.”

“Good to know.” Emily smiled, putting the plate in front of Henry, backing away when Henry took a giant bite. “I guess I make it like your dad does.”

“It tastes better than my dad’s.” Henry said, smiling up at Emily as she sat down. “Do you know where my mom is?”

“She’s working on a case, buddy.” Emily replied, taking a bite of her food. “I thought she told you this morning.”

“She did.” Henry nodded. “But where is she? On the map?”

“Oregon.” Emily said, pausing when she remembered that seven year olds don’t normally know where every state is. “It’s over by California, way over to the west.”

“So she’s really far away?”

“Yeah, but she’ll call as soon as she can.”

“I know.” Henry sighed, stabbing his spaghetti with his fork.

“Well, if she’s not back by tomorrow, we can try building a fort.” Emily found herself saying, watching as Henry’s face lit up.

“Really?!”

“Yep.”

Henry let out a little cheer before shoveling three more bites of his spaghetti before opening his mouth wide and stating that he was a zombie. Emily scowled a little before reminding Henry that he really shouldn’t play with his food, especially when it was messy. She made a mental not not to make anything that made a big mess.

Just as they finished eating and Emily had started on dishes, her cellphone started to buzz. Emily dried her hands on her pants before pulling out her cellphone, smiling when she read the caller ID. It was JJ.

“Henry, your mom’s calling!” Emily called before answering the phone. “Hey, Jayje, how’s the case going?”

_“You don’t want to know.”_ JJ groaned, Emily could hear the sounds of a police precinct in the background. _“How’s Henry?”_

“He’s fine.” Emily said, smiling a little when Henry came bounding down the stairs. “He was just washing his face and hands... and changing his shirt.”

_“What happened?”_ JJ asked, there was a mix of humor and exasperation in her voice.

“I made him spaghetti.” Emily sighed. Henry ran up to her and wrapped his arms around around Emily’s legs, smiling widely.

_“Well, I bet you learned your lesson.”_ JJ laughed. _“Can I talk to Henry?”_

“Yep,” Emily said, handing Henry her cellphone. “Please be careful.”

“Hi, Mommy.” Henry said, taking a few steps away from Emily with a smile. “Yeah... Yeah... Uh-huh...” He let out a little giggle. “No, Mommy, don’t be silly!” Henry’s face fell. “...Okay... I miss you...”

He went on to tell JJ about his day while Emily finished washing the dishes and taking care of the leftovers. She could imagine JJ hanging on every word that Henry was saying, laughing at the little jokes that Henry was telling. By the time Henry was finished, Emily had done the dishes, taken care of leftovers, cleaned the rest of the dinner mess, and listened to the little boy go on about his time with her.

“Here, she wants to talk to you.” Henry handed Emily her cellphone with a smile.

“Finish your homework.” Emily said before putting the phone to her ear. “Hey, JJ.” She smiled.

_“Hey Em.”_ JJ replied, she sounded tired. _“I told Henry that he had to listen to you and reminded him that his bedtime is at eight thirty. I’ll try to call by then to read him a story, but I can’t make any promises.”_

“Alright.” Emily nodded, tapping the rest of Henry’s worksheet that still sat on the coffee table and giving Henry a pointed look. “You okay, JJ?”

_“Yeah, I’m fine.”_ JJ said, Emily frowned a little. She could tell that JJ was lying, but she didn’t want to push.

“Okay.” Emily said. “If you need anything, you can call, you know that, right?”

_“I know.”_ JJ sighed, she was quiet for a moment. _“Henry matches the victimology and it’s just... it’s hard to see these little boys like this and not think of him.”_

“Everything will be fine, Jayje.” Emily said softly, moving so that she was out of Henry’s earshot. “You’ll catch this son of a bitch and he’ll rot in jail.”

_“If Morgan doesn’t kill him first, that is.”_

Emily chuckled dryly. “I love you.”

_“I love you too.”_ JJ replied, Emily could tell she was frowning. _“I’ve gotta go. I miss you both already._ ”

“Catch this guy and get back to us safely, okay?”

_“Okay. Enjoy suburbia, Agent Prentiss”_

“Bye.” Emily said as JJ hung up before walking over to where Henry sat, finishing his homework. “How’s it going, pal?”

“Done.” Henry sighed, sliding his paper to Emily. “Can you check it?”

Emily nodded, taking the sheet and looking it over. Henry’s handwriting was abysmal, but she vaguely understood the answers, which were right. She smiled at Henry and mussed up his hair before handing him the paper back.

“Good job.” She said, her smile widening when Henry let out a little cheer. “Pack up your stuff and then we’ll find something to do.”

Henry nodded and put his paper back into the Ironman folder and then promptly into his backpack. “Done! Can I play with your cat, now?”

“Sure.”

 

* * *

 

“No!” Henry sighed, exasperated as he and Emily worked on a blanket fort on the second day that JJ was gone. “You can’t have the Power Ranger blanket on the floor! We need it for the roof!”

“But then the tiger blanket will be the floor.” Emily rolled her eyes, following the little boy’s instructions despite how ridiculous his request was.

“Power Rangers can beat up tigers.” Henry stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“They’re people in tights, a tiger could beat people in tights.” Emily replied, grinning at the scandalized look on Henry’s face.

“They have super weapons and Morphers and Megazords!” Henry exclaimed, throwing some pillows onto the floor and grabbing another blanket for Emily to use. “They can stop a tiger!”

“What if the tiger doesn’t give them a chance to morph?” Emily grinned, taking the blanket from Henry and using it to finish the roof. “Now we have to build the inside.”

“You’re the best fort maker, Emily!” Henry grinned, crawling into the fort.

Emily had to agree with him. Her fort was pretty cool, it was large and encompassed the TV and almost as big as the entire living room. Henry had provided all of the pillows in the house, with the exception of JJ’s bed, which Emily had declared off limits in case the blonde came home tired and needed to sleep. Despite being a little put out, Henry seemed to understand Emily’s thought process and left his mother’s bed alone.

Henry insisted on spending as much time inside the fort as possible once they’d finished. That is, only after he had begged Emily to order a pizza for dinner. Normally, Emily wouldn’t give in to the child’s begging, she’d built him a fort for god’s sake! But then he had to mention his mom and make Emily’s heart melt. She really didn’t have a choice!

_“What are you guys doing?”_ JJ asked with a laugh as they were video chatting from inside the fort.

“We made a fort, Mommy!” Henry exclaimed, taking a bite of his pizza. “And we’re having a pizza party! Look!” He waved his half eaten slice in front of the screen, almost hitting Emily in the face. “We’re gonna watch a movie after we’re done!” He turned to Emily. “Right?!”

“Right.” Emily nodded, looking over at the screen. “How’s everything going?”

_“Good, we caught the guy.”_ JJ said, her smile faltering a little. _“Hotch wants to stay a little later and help the police build the case.”_ She let out a small chuckle. _“We uh... didn’t catch him with the latest victim... There aren’t any witnesses.”_

Emily let out a low whistle. “... Wow. Are you okay?”

_“I’m fine.”_ JJ sighed, plastering a smile back on her face. _“I miss you guys.”_

“I miss you too, Mommy.” Henry replied, leaning back in his seat. “When you get home, you can sleep in the fort with us!”

“Us?” Emily laughed, giving Henry a disbelieving look. “Who is this ‘us’ you’re talking about?”

“You hafta sleep in the fort, Emily!” Henry exclaimed, finishing his slice of pizza before wrapping his arms around Emily. “You made it! You hafta sleep in it!’”

_“Yeah, Em.”_ JJ grinned. _“You have to.”_ She looked up from the screen and nodded once when someone spoke. _“Hey, guys, someone wants to say hi to you if you don’t mind.”_

“Who?” Emily frowned a little.

_“Don’t act like you don’t miss us, Prentiss.”_ Morgan’s voice rang out as he and Reid appeared on the screen. _“Hi there, Henry. How’s the sleepover going?”_

“Good.” Henry said, grabbing another slice of pizza. “We made a fort and got pizza!”

_“I can see that.”_ Reid said with a smile. _“It’s a good fort, Henry. Did you help make it?”_

“Yeah.” Henry nodded. “Emily wanted the Power Ranger blanket on the bottom, but I told her no.”

_“God, Prentiss.”_ Morgan feigned irritation. _“How could you think that Power Rangers go on the bottom!?”_

“I don’t know, Morgan.” Emily laughed as she narrowly dodged being hit with another slice of pizza. “Henry, watch what you’re doing, I don’t wanna get hit.”

“I can’t!” Henry smiled. “I have to show Morgan and Spence how big our fort is!”

_“It looks pretty big.”_ Reid said, his brow furrowing. _“How many blankets did you use?”_

“A lot.” Emily sighed. “We used all of them, except for the ones on JJ’s bed.”

“In case Mommy gets home and needs to rest.” Henry added with a nod.

_“That’s so sweet.”_ JJ said from off camera, Emily could practically see her grinning.

_“God, you’re adorable._ ” Morgan shook his head and laughed.  _"It's so gross."_

_“Sorry to interrupt, kids,”_ Rossi sighed, stepping into view. _“But Hotch needs us.”_

Morgan and Reid nodded and said their goodbyes before leaving with Rossi.

_“I’ll see you both soon, okay?”_ JJ said, smiling sadly. _“I love you.”_

“Love you too, Mommy.” Henry smiled, blowing JJ a kiss. “I miss you.”

_“I miss you too, buddy.”_

“Bye, Jayj.” Emily sighed. “Love you.”

_“Love you too, Em.”_ JJ looked up from her screen when someone spoke to her. _“I really have to go, enjoy your pizza and your movie, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”_

“Bye, Mommy.” Henry said before the screen went black. He looked over at Emily and smiled a little. “Can we watch a superhero movie?”

“Yeah.” Emily nodded. “What do you wanna watch?”

“... Can we watch Thor?”

“Yeah, buddy.”

They ended up watching Thor and The Avengers before Henry fell asleep. Emily sighed and crawled out of the fort, thankful that she had insisted that Henry wore his pajamas to the ‘pizza party.’ She took care of the leftover pizza before getting ready for bed. Just as she was done locking the door and checking the security system, Emily started walking toward the stairs. There was no way she was sleeping in that fort.

“Emily...?” Henry mumbled, poking his head out of the fort and looking at the woman. “You hafta sleep in the fort.”

Emily closed her eyes and sighed.

 

* * *

 

JJ returned on Saturday, after being gone for three days, and was thoroughly amused to find that Emily and Henry had slept in their blanket fort the night before. Emily was already awake and drinking coffee when JJ entered the house. She’d just woken up and imagined that JJ had done the same, either that or she spent a six hour flight twiddling her thumbs.

“Welcome home.” Emily said, pulling out a coffee mug and pouring JJ a cup. “I heard that you got to do all of the tackling yesterday.”

“I did.” JJ smiled her thanks and pressed a quick kiss to Emily’s lips. “How was Henry?”

“A perfect gentleman.” Emily replied, casting a glance toward the blanket fort where Henry was still asleep. “Though, I think I need parental supervision around him, I swear if you were gone any longer, he could’ve convinced me to buy or do anything.”

“He has that effect on people.” JJ said, sipping her coffee and leaning against the counter.

“He gets it from his mother.” Emily smiled, leaning forward and kissing JJ again. “I missed you.”

“I wasn’t gone that long.” JJ let out a puff of laughter. “Don’t tell me you’re getting needy, Agent Prentiss.”

“I’m not needy.” Emily finished her coffee and placed her mug next to the coffee pot. “I just would rather have you here than not here...”

“You’re cute.” JJ sighed.

Emily laughed as JJ set her cup down and pulled her in for a kiss. Her hands found their way to JJ’s waist and pulled her in closer, she felt JJ grip the back of her neck with one hand and cup her cheek. A small laugh escaped her lips when she felt JJ’s finger gently stroked a spot on her hairline, she wasn’t sure if JJ had tickled her on purpose or not. That is until JJ laughed too.

“You’re rude.” Emily said when they pulled apart for air.

“Should I wake Henry up and say hi?” JJ asked, glancing back at the blanket fort.

“He might be upset if he wakes up and sees that you didn’t immediately greet him.” Emily shrugged, letting go of JJ’s waist and smiling a little. “You’re gonna end up sleeping in that fort, just so you know.”

“Well, you’re spending the night.” JJ replied, walking over to the fort. “So I hope it was comfortable because we’re all sleeping in there tonight.”

“I wouldn’t if you paid me.” Emily said with a laugh.

“Yes you will.” JJ smiled. “Because you love me and Henry too much.”

“Shut up.” Emily knew that JJ was completely right, already mentally preparing herself for another uncomfortable night in that godforsaken fort.

She watched as JJ woke Henry up and smiled at how excited he was to see his mother. Emily had seen a lot of reunions after cases, and it never got any less joyful. The unbridled happiness on everyone’s faces as they held each other, the way time seemed to stop for them, almost as if the outside world had melted away. Like they were in a world of their own. Emily felt a little out of place.

“Emily, look!” Henry exclaimed, breaking out of his mother’s embrace. “Mommy’s home! Now she can sleep in the fort too!”

“Yeah, and I can finally sleep in a bed.” Emily laughed as Henry dragged JJ over to the kitchen.

“You hafta sleep in the fort!” Henry said seriously. “You helped build it!”

“He has a point, Em.” JJ kissed Emily’s lips “You did help build it.”

“I’m not sleeping in that fort again.” She was definitely sleeping in that fort again.

 

 


	4. Suburbs

Emily was tired, aching, and still had some glitter and mud stuck to her is she wasn’t mistaken. She stumbled into her apartment and typed in her security code before dropping her bag on the floor and flopping face first onto the sofa. Idly wondering how long it would take Sergio to eat her if she died right then and there, Emily rolled onto her back and grasped for her cellphone.

She glanced at the time and sighed. It was just after midnight, and a large part of her wanted to call JJ and tell her that she was alright. To hear JJ tell her about what happened with Henry while she was away, though Emily would much rather hear it from Henry, himself, but that wasn’t going to happen until much later. At least not for a couple of hours. Emily sighed and dialled the number, JJ wouldn’t be thrilled to be woken up, but she’d be much more irritated to to have been called in the first place.

_“Hey, Em.”_ JJ greeted tiredly, there was some relief in her tone. _“You just get back?”_

“Yep.” Emily replied, stretching a little. “Sorry for waking you, but I know how you like it when I call.”

_“It’s fine, Em.”_ JJ laughed a little, stifling a yawn. _“I can’t believe you were gone for thirteen days. Sounds like someone wasn’t on her game.”_

“Pretty much.” Emily sighed, stretching a little and groaning when her back cracked. “Not to mention the fact that there were two unsubs, both trying to outdo each other with their killings.” She rolled her eyes. “One guy dumps a body near the police station, the other leaves one on the commissioner’s yard, the first one then decides to leave one under one of our Suburbans. That was stressful as hell.”

_“Sorry you had to deal with that.”_ JJ said quietly. _“I kind of regret saying that you were off your game, now.”_

“It’s fine, I thought I was too before we found out that there was a second one.” Emily said, she pinched the bridge of her nose. “And they made me flirt with one of them. I hate doing that!” She sighed. “Why am I so good at flirting with monsters? You never have to flirt with them? Do I give off a vibe that says ‘Hey, I’m evil too, I understand!’ or something?”

_“I don’t know.”_ JJ replied, she was frowning, Emily could tell. _“Do you wanna come over or something? You sound really... are you okay?”_

“Tired.” Emily mumbled, closing her eyes. “... Drained, actually. I’m like a puddle of exhaustion, I don’t think I could make it over to your place, anyway. Probably fall asleep on the way over and crash.”

_“Well, I do have an idea that would solve this problem.”_ JJ said, now sounding a little irritated.

“Jayje...” Emily groaned. “We’ve been over this.”

JJ had suggested that they move in together nearly three weeks ago, she sometimes joked around about it, but that time, she was serious. By all accounts it all made sense, they each had drawers in each others’ dressers, their clothes were mixed together in their closets, extra toothbrushes and toiletries were in the bathroom, and Emily was pretty sure that JJ had something to do with the potted plant that mysteriously appeared in her living room one day. Even though Emily was sure that moving in together would be the most logical course of action, she couldn’t shake the feeling that her life would be over the moment she moved in with JJ.

_“We’ve been together for over three years.”_ JJ sighed. _“We’ve been friends for four years longer than that, I understand being nervous, but not...”_ JJ took a deep breath. _“It’s really late, and we both have to be at the office in the morning, so... I’ll talk to you later.”_

“I love you.” Emily said quietly, smiling a little when JJ returned the sentiment. “Bye, Jayje. Sleep well.”

_“You too.”_ JJ hung up.

Emily sighed and rolled off the sofa before finding her way to her bedroom to get ready for bed. Her alarm was set, the cat was fed, and her go bag had been unpacked and repacked before Emily changed into her pajamas and dropped into bed. It was a welcome change and Emily closed her eyes and waited to fall asleep.

 

* * *

 

Emily walked into the office the next morning, thoroughly convinced that she didn’t get a wink of sleep. She sat down at her desk and immediately got to work on filling out a few forms and finishing her official statement so the case she’d just finished working on could be closed. The day would go by faster if she just kept her head down and worked her butt off.

“Hey there, Princess.” Morgan’s voice rang out from behind her, causing her to jump slightly. “You were gone for almost two weeks, I was starting to miss your snark.”

“I highly doubt that.” Emily rolled her eyes and turned to look at her friend. “Did you guys go anywhere fun while I was away?”

“Serial rapist in Iowa and a couple kidnappings in Nevada.” Morgan shrugged, crossing his arms. “I heard from a reliable source that you got to tackle a glitter covered unsub into a mud puddle, why was there glitter involved?”

“He was trying to kill a drag queen and the glitter rubbed off.” Emily replied, watching as her friend let out a loud bark of a laugh.

“I know, Garcia told me.” He smiled widely. “Just wanted to hear it from you.”

“Of course you did.” Emily said, shaking her head and crossing her arms.

“I also heard something else from my baby girl...” Morgan sat down on the corner of Emily’s desk. She certainly was in for the long haul. “Something about a certain blonde asking you to move in with her and you turning into the cliched bachelor who’s terrified of commitment. You’re breaking her heart, Princess.” He paused, looking at Emily for a moment. “Now, I’m not gonna jump down your throat and assume that you’re an evil entity sent in by satan to...” He trailed off when Emily furrowed her brow. “You know what? You don’t need to know what Garcia called you, but I need to know why you’re so afraid of moving in together so I can defend your honor next time my baby girl needs to rant.”

“Morgan,” Emily sighed, leaning forward in her seat. “I have an enormous amount of respect for you, so I’m not going to lie to you.” She took in a deep breath. “Do you ever feel like if you do something, your entire life will end? And I don’t mean you feel like you’ll die, I mean, your life just is over. I know that logically it’s a good idea. I mean, it’s a really good idea, and I want to spend all of my time with JJ. I want to live my life with her, but every time I think about moving in with her...” Emily paused, trying to gather her thoughts. “I can’t help but wonder if and when my life is gonna end and I won’t be me anymore. And that’s terrifying.”

“Damn, girl.” Morgan mumbled, shaking his head. “You’ve got some serious commitment issues.” He paused for a moment and let out a little laugh. “I don’t even think you can commit to your commitment issues.”

“I can’t.” Emily grinned. “If I were committed to my issues, I’d still be single.”

Morgan laughed and stood, looking over Emily’s shoulder. “Hey, JJ.”

Emily’s blood ran cold. Logically she knew that working in the same office as JJ would mean running into each other. Especially when they’re in the same division. Usually this was a good thing, it meant that they always had a standing lunch date at least, but after a fight, it was always a curse. It made a thirteen day case and a four hour plane ride sound like a walk in the park compared to getting the cold shoulder from her coworker and girlfriend. It was times like these that made Emily’s transfer to a different team make complete sense. She couldn’t imagine working on a case with JJ when they were like that.

“Morning.” Emily said, turning in her seat to look at JJ.

“Morning.” JJ replied, moving to sit at her desk, which was right across from Emily’s. This definitely made life harder for everyone. “I heard you made the arrest on your last case.”

“One of them.” Emily sighed, turning back around.

“You didn’t get stabbed, did you?” JJ asked dryly. Emily glanced up at Morgan, who was holding back a laugh.

“Not this time.” The corner of Emily’s mouth twitched.

“Thank god.” JJ sighed.

“I’d better get to work before Hotch sets me on fire.” Morgan said with a smile before walking away. “Good luck with your fight, ladies.”

“You guys are fighting?” Reid asked as he walked to his desk.

“Butt out, Spence.” JJ said, not looking up from her work.

Emily looked over at Reid and made eye contact with him before nodding once. Reid was quiet for a moment before giving Emily a look that told her she would be explaining it to him later. A small sigh escaped Emily’s lips, it wasn’t like she had any plans for lunch anyway, and she might as well spend that time clearing her good name and convincing her friends that she’s not a complete monster. Though, it wasn’t like JJ tried to drag her through the mud, her venting just sometimes got out of hand.

“I heard you had two killers during your last case.” Reid said, looking over at Emily and giving her a tight smile.

“Yeah, I got to tackle the second unsub.” Emily replied, looking back at her file. “Broke his nose on the pavement when I took him down.”

“That’s intense.” Reid nodded, turning toward his work. “You know, I’m going to a fourteenth century Italian art exhibit on Thursday, if you’re free, you should come with me.”

“Okay.” Emily said, glancing toward JJ, who seemed to have blocked out the conversation. “If I don’t have any plans. I’ll tell you if I’m busy.”

“Great.” Reid smiled.

Emily worked with JJ’s cold shoulder looming over her. It was incredibly distracting, but she managed to work through it, or rather work around it. By the time lunch rolled around, Emily was ready to leave the office for the rest of the day. Or the week. Or for the rest of her life. Anything was better than the suffocating guilt that weighed on her.

“Wanna grab lunch?” Reid asked after JJ and Garcia left for their own break. “A deli just opened up around the corner, I had lunch there last week, it’s really good.”

“Yeah, sure.” Emily nodded and stood, following Reid out the building.

The deli was so close by that they could walk, in fact, Emily was sure that driving would take longer than walking. She paid for both her and Reid, despite the younger man’s argument, even going so far as to threaten him with violence. A smile formed on her face when Reid put his hands up in surrender and they walked to their table.

“JJ hasn’t said anything about you both fighting at all while you were gone.” Reid said as they sat down. “In fact, she hasn’t said anything about you. Which is a lot more concerning than when she talks about your fights... but they aren’t that often, I guess that it’s a good thing.” He smiled nervously before swallowing. “I’m worried about you both, you’re not going to break up, are you?”

“I hope not.” Emily took a sip of her soda. “I’m not...” She looked Reid in the eye. “I love her, Reid. And if we break up because I can’t get over my stupid, god damn issues-”

“There’s no such thing as stupid issues.” Reid interrupted, his frown deepening. “Well, there are, but they don’t stem from stupid reasons. There’s a legitimate reason for whatever issues you have, probably something you went through a while ago. Maybe you’re afraid of it ending, so try to keep your distance.” He paused and thought for a moment. “But you don’t want to be at a distance, you want to be close, but for the life of you... You can’t figure out how to do it.”

“You got all that from my first day back after two weeks?” Emily smiled a little.

“I’ve known you for years, Emily.” Reid said, the corner of his mouth turning up. “And I’ve seen you in one relationship, with JJ, it’s the happiest that I ever saw you.”

“Really?” Emily asked, her brow furrowing. “You’ve seen me with an entire bottle of everclear to myself, and the happiest you’ve seen me is in a relationship?”

“The happiest I’ve seen you sober.” Reid chuckled, taking a bite of his sandwich. “Though, I do seem to remember you making fun of Morgan a few times, so the second happiest. Why are you at your happiest when you’re with JJ or making fun of someone?”

“That’s not true.” Emily laughed. “I’m happy when I’m with you. Beating you at chess is one of the highlights of my life.”

Reid’s smile faltered. “You need to talk to JJ. She missed you while you were gone, I think that tonight or tomorrow will be the best time to be forgiven, or at least understood.”

“Not to mention giving her time to tell Garcia that we made up before she ruins my life.” Emily rolled her eyes.

“I’d almost forgotten about that...” Reid laughed, almost choking on his food. “You might want to talk to JJ sooner than later.”

“Have I ever told you that I love you?” Emily said, taking a bite of her sandwich.

“No, but I don’t think I want you to start.” Reid said, crossing his arms. “It’d ruin our relationship.”

“Well, there’s one relationship that’s staying afloat.” Emily sighed.

 

* * *

 

The sun had long set by the time Emily parked outside JJ’s house. She knew that logically it would have made more sense to come by immediately after work was over, but a larger, more irrational part of her needed to go back to her apartment and eat two cans of ravioli before heading over. A sigh escaped her lips before she walked up to the front door, she took in a deep breath and reminded herself that she worked for the FBI. That she’d looked evil in the eye and hadn’t blinked. That she’d technically died before.That she shouldn’t be afraid of the woman she had fallen in love with.

Why was she so scared to explain herself to her girlfriend, then?

Emily knocked on the door, she had a key, but barging in when they were... how they were at the moment seemed like a bad idea. The kind of idea that ended with a bullet between the eyes, especially since JJ wasn’t expecting her. Emily shook her head, there was no way that JJ would shoot first, not before finding out why someone would break into her home in the first place.

She heard stomping from the other side of the door before JJ opened it. Emily smiled a little when JJ opened the door. The blonde looked tired and Emily could hear Henry yelling in the background, JJ offered Emily a tight smile before letting her inside.

“I just have to make sure Henry takes his bath and get him to bed.” JJ said, closing the door as Emily kicked her shoes off. “We can talk after that, okay?”

“I can help if you want.” Emily said, glancing around the corner to see Henry running toward her.

“Emily!” Henry exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Emily’s legs and hugging her tightly. “You were gone forever, I missed you!”

“I missed you too, pal.” Emily smiled, picking Henry up and giving him a tight hug. “How about we give your mom a break and you let me help you with your bath? That way you can tell me everything that happened while I was gone, sound good?”

The question was directed more at JJ than at Henry, who had nodded.

“Sounds good.” JJ sighed, bending down to pick up a few of Henry’s toys off the ground.

Thankfully, bathing Henry had evolved from wrestling a toddler into a bathtub, scrubbing him clean, and being splashed with lukewarm water to sitting beside the bathtub, reminding him to wash his face, and helping with his hair. Emily only had to narrowly dodge one toy that was thrown at her, which had actually only slipped from Henry’s hand. No one looks that surprised about seeing their mother’s girlfriend almost being hit in the face with a Godzilla if they meant to throw the toy.

It only took half an hour to finish Henry’s bath. Emily wrapped the little boy in a towel and quickly dried his hair with a towel, earning a loud laugh when he looked in the mirror. She had to agree with Henry when he said that he looked like a lion.

“Thanks.” JJ said when she entered Henry’s room after he put his pajamas on. “He’s gonna want you in here, too, you know.” She smiled a little. “He really missed you, even with the phone calls.”

“I have that effect on people.” Emily replied as JJ let her into Henry’s room.

They read him a story, Henry liked it when Emily read the story and JJ did the voices. He demanded a kiss from each woman before he allowed himself to be fully tucked in. Emily smiled as she watched JJ give him another kiss on the forehead before straightening up.

“Goodnight, pal.” Emily said as she opened his door and waited for JJ.

“Goodnight, Emily.” Henry smiled back. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” Emily replied, offering a small grin. “Sorry I didn’t come see you sooner.”

“It’s okay.” Henry shrugged, rolling onto his side. “You’ll be here when I wake up, right?”

“You know that I can’t make any promises.” Emily frowned a little as JJ flicked off the light. “But I’ll try my hardest.”

“Kay.” Henry closed his eyes. “I love you.” He said it so quietly that Emily almost missed it.

“Love you too, pal.” Emily sighed, stepping out of the room and walking to the living room.

She could feel JJ behind her, but she wasn’t sure if it was from all of her training, or if it was some kind of dating ESP. Maybe it was a mix of both. Emily put her hands in her pockets before looking at JJ and offering a small smile, which wasn’t returned. Now that Henry was in bed, she didn’t have to pretend that everything was okay. At least there wouldn’t be any yelling. That was a plus.

“He loves you so much.” JJ said quietly. “Always asking about you when you’re gone, always excited to see you whenever you’re gonna come over...” A small chuckle escaped her lips. “A couple days ago, he told a kid at school that he had three moms. When I asked what he meant, he told me that it was me, Meaghan, Will’s wife, and you.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Emily asked, biting her lip and looking JJ in the eye.

“Because you need to know how he feels about you.” JJ sighed, sitting on the sofa and resting her head in her hands. “Because you need to know how our relationship affects that little boy who loves you so much that he wanted both of us to come to career day at his school next month.”

Emily’s mind went blank for a moment, the only thought in her head was whether or not she could describe her job in a child friendly way. “How do you explain profiling to second graders?”

JJ chuckled. “I don’t know, Em.” She shook her head and stood up, taking three steps over to Emily. “I know that I’m not blameless here. I push and I push until you feel like you’re in a corner and then I get angry when you-”

“It’s not your fault.” Emily said, cutting JJ off. She offered JJ a small smile. “My lease is up in three months, and I...”

“You’re not doing anything that you’re not ready for.” Apparently it was JJ’s turn to interrupt. “I’m not going to let you make yourself uncomfortable to fit my idea of what we should be.”

“I know.” Emily nodded, her smile widening. “It’s the most logical way to go about things, we won’t have to waste gas driving from place to place, I won’t have to waste my unlimited minutes calling you whenever I get home from a case, all of my clothes will be in one place again,” JJ laughed a little at that. “I won’t wake up alone nearly as often...”

“Did you make pros and cons list?” JJ asked with a smile.

“A pros list.” Emily replied, letting out a nervous laugh. “If I wrote a cons list, it’d psych me out and I’d be working on my fifth can of ravioli, watching reruns of Friends, and finishing off that bottle of jack in my freezer.”

“I can help you with a cons list.” JJ sighed. “You can’t make a decision with a bias.”

“Okay, shoot.” Emily nodded. It felt like a weight had been listed off her chest, like everything was going to be okay. Like she and JJ were going to be okay, and it was really easy, too.

“When you live with a kid, privacy means nothing.” JJ said after a moment of thought.

“But I mostly live here, so I’m used to it.”

“There’s no storming out after arguments.”

“There’s a guest room with a door that I can slam.”

“You’re terrified of commitment.”

“I’m more afraid of losing you and Henry.”

Emily froze as soon as the words came out of her mouth. She didn’t think it’d be that easy, not like that, it was quick, just like a bandaid. JJ smiled and gently took Emily’s face in her hands, pulling her forward and kissing her slowly. It felt good after two weeks away, and another in the dog house. She gripped the back of JJ’s neck and pulled her closer. God she missed this.

“So we have three months of commuting until you can officially move in?” JJ asked when they pulled away for air. “That means that we have time to pack up your place, choose what furniture goes where, maybe get some new stuff?”

“You just want my couch.” Emily smiled, kissing JJ again. “And that weird painting that Rossi gave me...”

“That can go in the guest room to scare people.” JJ replied, grinning widely.

“Or the bathroom, and literally scare the shit out of them.”

“I also really like your dining room table, we need to get that in here too.”

Emily laughed a little. “Well, I like your bed, a lot... but I think I forgot what it looked like... can you show me?”

“I might be able to arrange a showing...”

 


	5. Neighbors (Part 1)

Emily’s sofa looked good in JJ’s living room... her new living room. And Henry liked it a lot, apparently leather sofas were fun to slide off of, right onto the floor. Thank god JJ had carpet and not hard wood, she would hate to have to deal with a seven year old with a bruised tailbone. That would be an awful way to kick off her first official weekend while living with JJ, as if she hadn’t been staying at JJ’s place almost every night since they’d made up.

“Why do we have new stuff?” Henry asked when he finished chasing Sergio under her and JJ’s bed.

“Remember when I told you that Emily was gonna live with us, Henry?” JJ smiled patiently.

“Yeah.” Henry nodded once and smiled. “So she can be here when I wake up more.”

“And other things.” Emily mumbled to herself, winking at JJ.

“Well, since we’re not living at Emily’s old apartment,” JJ continued, laughing a little at Emily. “I thought it would be a good idea to have some of Emily’s stuff at our house. And I love her couch.”

“Me too!” Henry slid off of Emily’s sofa.

“I see that.” Emily smiled.

They’d just finished moving Emily into JJ’s house, an entire week before her lease was up. The last box of her things had been unpacked, she’d even found a good hiding place for her safe, though she was sure that JJ knew exactly where it was by now. She also was sure that JJ already figured out her combination by now. It was an unspoken agreement, Emily knew where JJ kept her secrets and how to get to them, and vice versa, but they would never actually go through them. She’d never betray JJ like that, and Emily was sure that JJ would never betray her either.

“Henry, do you have your bag ready for your weekend with your dad and Megan?” Emily asked, checking her watch quickly. “He’s gonna be here in a few minutes.”

“I’ll get it.” Henry let out a sigh and ran to his room.

“He wants to spend the weekend playing with us.” JJ said, sitting on the sofa and leaning back. “Apparently you moving in with us is like a sleepover.”

“Does that mean we’re building blanket forts and ordering pizza every night?” Emily grinned, leaning over the back of the sofa and kissing the top of JJ’s head. “Because I can get behind that.”

“Like you could handle sleeping in a blanket fort.” JJ rolled her eyes as Emily walked around and sat beside her. “I don’t think your back could handle that.”

“Those are old people problems.” Emily froze after she spoke. Was JJ calling her old? She wasn’t old. “Are you saying I’m old? Because then you’re going to be calling Hotch and Morgan old too.”

“Morgan’s younger than you.” JJ said, leaning over and kissing Emily quickly.

“By like two years.” Emily said, smiling a little when she heard Henry running down the stairs. “I’m not that much older than him.” She paused. “I’m a lot older than you, though. do we need to rethink our relationship?”

“I know you’re trying to be funny, but seriously, Em.” JJ sighed. “Don’t even joke like that. You’ll probably just end up believing the joke and I really don’t want to lose this couch.”

“The couch?” Emily rolled her eyes

“I’ve already got what I need from you,” JJ smirked just as Henry entered the living room. “Hey, buddy, do you have all your stuff? Your dad won’t be too happy if he has to drive all the way over here to get a toy you forgot.”

“Or your blanket.” Emily added, smiling when Henry opened his bag and pulled out his blanket. “Right on, pal.”

“I left my blue truck here in case you wanted to play with it while I’m gone.” Henry said with a wide smile. “But my red car is coming to my dad’s. It’s his favorite when we play.”

“Why don’t you keep it at his place then?” JJ asked, laughing at the way realization dawned on her son’s face. “Didn’t think of that, did you?”

There was a knock on the door before Henry could answer, prompting the little boy to let out an excited scream and run toward the door. Emily stood up and followed behind him, she knew that it was Will at the door, but there was no way that she was going to let a seven year old answer the door alone. A smile formed on her face when she opened the door, Henry was always so excited to see his dad, his smile was infectious.

“Hey, Will.” Emily said, watching as Henry attached himself to Will’s legs. “I think JJ has Henry’s backpack,” She took a step to the side and watched as Will awkwardly waddled into the house before prying Henry off his legs and lifting the boy into his arms. “He’s very excited to see you.”

“Hi.” JJ said as she approached Will and Emily with Henry’s backpack in hand. “I checked his bag twice, he had everything he needs. Including his blanket and his trucks.”

“Thank god.” Will smiled, grabbing the bag and tossing it on his back. “It sucks when we forget something, doesn’t it?”

“Definitely.” Emily said as Will set Henry down, looking at the little boy. “Have fun at your dad’s okay?”

“Okay!” Henry nodded and hugged Emily then JJ. “Bye Mom, bye Emily!”

“I’ll have him back on Sunday night... Around six.” Will said, smiling at both women. “I’ll call if the times change.” He looked down at Henry. “Ready to go, bud?”

“Yeah!” Henry grinned and ran out the door.

“Have a good weekend, Will.” JJ said, hugging her ex goodbye.

“You too, ladies.” Will shook Emily’s hand before exiting the house. “Enjoy yourselves.”

“We will, trust me.” JJ smiled as Emily closed the door behind the man.

“We’re just gonna be sleeping in.” Emily sighed, her eyes widening a little when JJ pulled her in for a kiss.

“Yeah, in the morning.” JJ said, kissing Emily again. “Wanna start our sleepover?”

 

* * *

 

“Your left eye is a little darker than your right one.” JJ said in the morning. She lying on top of Emily, using her arms to prop herself up. “Just thought you’d wanna know.”

Emily smiled a little and leaned up, pecking JJ’s lips quickly. It was after ten o’clock, which was much later than either of them had planned to still be in bed. The sun had already risen and was shining through the curtains, right into Emily’s eyes. Not that she minded, as long as she was still in bed, she was happy.

“Oh really?” Emily smiled when JJ kissed her again, this time slowly. She was definitely savoring it. “Isn’t it hard to tell? They’re already pretty dark.”

“Not really.” JJ said, looking Emily in the eyes again. “Yeah, they’re dark, but I can tell.”

“Well your eyes are perfectly symmetrical.” Emily said after a moment. “No discrepancies.”

JJ laughed and rolled off of Emily and onto her back, looking up at the ceiling. “What do you want to do today?” She asked.

“I don’t know, Jayj.” Emily frowned a little, looking over at JJ with a small smile. “This is fun.”

“We can’t spend all day in bed.” JJ laughed, turning to look at Emily. “We have to do something productive.”

“Well, we have some papers to sign about how us getting together wasn’t a result of sexual harassment.” Emily sighed, sitting up  and stretching. “Sounds like fun, huh?”

“Let’s stay in bed all day.” JJ groaned and rolled over, looking Emily in the eye.

“Nope,” Emily said, climbing off the bed and tossing on a large Rolling Stones shirt that she had accidentally stolen from Rossi years ago. “You can’t just change the rules. We can’t spend the day in bed, there’s something we need to do.” She dressed herself completely and flopped back onto the bed, laughing a little when JJ jumped. “Come on, Jayj.”

“No.” JJ whined as Emily grabbed her hands and tried to drag her off the bed.

“Come on!” Emily urged, pulling harder when JJ went completely limp. “We have papers to sign, statements to make, I have to go for a run and I need you to help me not get lost.” She pulled JJ into a sitting position before pecking her lips. “I’ll make coffee, you get ready for the day.”

“Fine.”

Emily smiled and rolled off the bed before leaving the room. When she entered the living room, Emily quickly fished out the paperwork that she and JJ were given from her bag. She understood why their superiors wanted them to sign the documents, the defense could turn their relationship into a sideshow in court if they were called in to testify, potential breakups could implicate the bureau. It all made sense to her and she didn’t mind signing the papers, she did mind having to disclose and define what their relationship was to some suit wearing douchebags who already had her transferred to another team to cover their own asses.

Tossing the papers for JJ on the coffee table, Emily walked to the kitchen and started to brew the coffee. She listened as the coffee machine brewed and leafed through the papers she’d brought over for herself, nothing out of the ordinary, exactly the same as the last three she’d signed. The only thing that ever changed were Emily’s answers. From having ‘casual relations with Agent Jennifer Jareau’ to ‘in a committed relationship with Jennifer Jareau’, it was definitely strange to write it down for the sake of ‘full disclosure.’

“Am I supposed to mention us living together?” Emily murmured to herself as she grabbed her pen and started to fill out some of the document.

“I don’t know,” JJ said as she entered the kitchen, leaning against the counter. “Do you think that it’s pertinent information?”

“It might be...” Emily shrugged, watching as JJ pulled out two mugs and started to pour the coffee. “I mean, I mentioned that I made you my emergency contact, so I might as well mention living together. Maybe seeing that will mean we don’t have to fill one of these out next year.”

“It only ends after the two people involved get married.” JJ replied, putting some sugar in Emily’s coffee before sliding it to her.

Emily’s eyes widened at what JJ said, and she was sure that she would have spit out her coffee all over herself if she’d have taken a sip. A loud laugh from JJ pulled Emily out of her realization and forced her to make eye contact with the blonde. JJ leaned forward and kissed Emily quickly on the lips.

“I’m not proposing to you, idiot.” JJ rolled her eyes. “We just moved in together, and honestly I don’t feel like planning a wedding right now.”

“Right now?” Emily repeated, taking a sip of her coffee.

“Can you predict the future?” JJ raised an eyebrow.

Emily rolled her eyes and signed another paper. “You might want to get started on your homework or else you’ll get in trouble.”

“I have all weekend to do it.” JJ sighed, taking another drink of coffee. “It can wait.”

“Yours can, apparently, but mine is almost done.” Emily initialed another document and checked off a box. “There.”

“Can I copy off you?” JJ asked, snatching the papers off of the counter.

“There might be some confusion as to why Emily Prentiss is dating Emily Prentiss, but go for it.” Emily shrugged and took another sip of coffee.

“Don’t be an ass.” JJ said, looking over the documents with a slight frown. “I like what you wrote about our relationship. ‘Agent Jareau and I maintain a purely professional relationship while on duty.’” She glanced up at Emily and gave her a wicked grin. “As if we didn’t make out in the storage room that used to be my office last week.”

“Technically we were on a lunch break.” Emily mumbled, smiling her coffee. “So that doesn’t count. And besides, we don’t even hold hands at the office.”

“Fair enough.” JJ chuckled a little. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Emily replied and watched as JJ took her papers to the coffee table and set them down before getting to work. “Hurry up, Jayj, I wanna get my run in before Henry comes home.”

“I’ll take my sweet time.” JJ called back as she started working. “Disclose everything that happened last night, maybe.”

“Yeah, and then I’ll be fired and I’ll be forced to take that job at Interpol.” Emily said with a smile. “But, hey, I’ll let you keep the couch, though.”

“You know, long distance relationships rarely work.” JJ said as she started signing her name. “I don’t think we’d last.”

“I’d steal one of the jets and visit you.” Emily replied, finishing her coffee. “Maybe let Henry have a turn at the controls.”

“Because that’s a good idea.” JJ rolled her eyes and wrote something down.

 

* * *

 

Fourteen people greeted Emily and JJ as they went for their run, and none of them knew Emily’s name. It felt like a more sick version of a walk of shame, except she was forced to shake hands with all of JJ’s neighbors. Emily definitely regretted her choice of clothes, at least half of the neighbors noticed the scars on her arms and shoulders. She could feel them looking at her.

“God, I didn’t realize that suburbia meant parading your girlfriend around like this.” Emily joked when some older man just finished introducing himself. “Should we just knock on the neighbors’ doors? It’d save time.”

“Oh, shut up.” JJ sighed when they resumed their run. “They want to meet you, Em. Especially since they’ve seen you turning up at my place at all hours of the night and not leaving till morning.”

“They think I’m your late night booty call?”

“At first they thought we were talking about national security.”

“Aren’t we always.” Emily rolled her eyes and opened JJ’s gate for her when they arrived back at the house. “It’s a good thing I made you keep my treadmill, huh? Now I don’t have to talk to them anymore.”

“You can’t just be the strange lady who lives in my house.” JJ laughed, kissing Emily’s lips quickly as she entered the front yard. “They’ll start to talk and Henry won’t have any friends.”

“All because of me?” Emily’s brow furrowed. “That’s a little rude.”

“Well, I’m already in love with a woman, they’re already talking.” JJ said, she grabbed Emily’s hand and dragged Emily into the house. “They think I left Will for you,”

“Didn’t you, though?”

“No, we broke up, amicably if I may add.” JJ replied as she opened her door. “And then you and I got together. There was no leaving anyone for anyone else.” She smiled and kissed Emily quickly on the lips. “Don’t get a big head.”

“I can’t help it.” Emily said, closing the door behind her. Not without noticing yet another neighbor walking down the street while wrangling her four children. Family walks were not going to happen as far as Emily was concerned. “What makes a person want to take their kids for walks like that?”

“I used to take Henry for walks when he was in his stroller.” JJ said, walking into the kitchen and grabbing two water bottles from the fridge. “It’s a normal parenting thing.” She tossed Emily a bottle and smiled.

“If you say so.” Emily shrugged, taking a drink from the bottle and ripping off her tank top, which was coated in sweat. The air felt good on her abdomen. “I’m not taking Henry on my runs, he’ll mess up my mile time.”

“You’ll be singing a different tune when he begs you to let him go.” JJ leaned against the counter and continued to drink her water.

“Two runs a day, then.” Emily sighed. “At least we know I won’t get fat.”

“Maybe we’ll be able to enter you in a marathon.” JJ laughed a little.

Emily rolled her eyes and finished her water before walking over to JJ. She wrapped her arms around the shorter woman and smiled before kissing her quickly. A laugh escaped her lips when they parted, they both smelled pretty ripe.

“You need a shower, Agent Jareau.” Emily said, kissing JJ again.

“You’re not faring so well, yourself.” JJ replied with a smile. “But you’re right, I could use a shower.”

“Me too.” Emily grinned and winked at JJ. “Wanna save time and water?”

“That sounds like a good idea.” JJ kicked Emily again, slowly, before pulling away. “Come on, then.”

Just as Emily was going to follow her very attractive and willing girlfriend into the shower, there was a knock on the door. Emily groaned and went to the door, hearing JJ laughing a little in the background. She opened the door, just in time to be painfully aware that she was only wearing a sports’ bra when she was face to face with one of JJ’s neighbors.

“Hi.” It was the bald guy from across the street, Emily saw him once and was thirty percent sure that he and his wife had joint custody. Based on the fact that he had two kids playing in his yard every other weekend, and sometimes on Wednesdays.

“Hi.” The man offered his hand to Emily, putting a smile on his face. “My name’s Martin VandenTorn. I live across the street.”

Emily shook the man’s hand and smiled. “Emily Prentiss, I just moved in.”

“I saw you and your friends working on that  your friends working on that yesterday.” Martin nodded. “Just thought I’d welcome you to the neighborhood.”

“Well, thank you.” Emily said, painfully aware that Martin was looking at her abdomen.

“That’s a nasty one right there.” Martin murmured, looking directly at Emily’s scar from Doyle. It was better than if he saw the brand. “Bet it has a good story.”

“I was staked by an international arms dealer.” Emily replied in a deadpan voice. “He used a table leg.”

“Oh, wow.”  Martin frowned and looked around awkwardly. “I have to go... Welcome to the neighborhood.”

Emily smiled again before closing the door. Her Doyle scar almost always got her out of conversations that she didn’t want to be in.

“Why are you like this?” JJ sighed. She was leaning against the counter with a shit eating grin, apparently having listened to the entire exchange.

“I don’t like awkward conversations.” Emily said, frowning a little. “I can’t believe I talked to your neighbor... without a shirt on.”

“Our neighbor.”

“... Sorry, I can’t believe I talked to our neighbor with no shirt on.”

“I can’t believe you told Martin about your scar.” JJ laughed.

“He probably thinks I’m lying.”

“I would’ve.”


	6. Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place before chapter 1.

Emily was leaning against her counter, watching as JJ paced around the apartment. It was the day of their hearing that would determine whether the two of them would be able to continue working for the BAU. The blonde was nervous, not that Emily wasn’t, but she was just better at putting on a calm face and pretending everything was alright.

“Everything will be alright.” Emily sighed, sipping her coffee and watching as her girlfriend turned to look at her. “I mean it.”

“What if one of us gets fired?” JJ asked, her tone rising an octave.

“Then I’ll apply for a job in the state department.” Emily replied calmly.

“What if I get fired?”

“I think they’d ask for a volunteer in these situations.”

“How do you know that?”

“It just seems like that’s how it works.” Emily shrugged, holding out a coffee mug. “Now calm down, drink your coffee, and then we can go to the meeting.”

“What do you think is going to happen?” JJ asked, snatching the coffee out of Emily’s hand and taking a sip.

The question made Emily freeze. She sat there for a moment, idly thinking about the possibilities. It was possible that they’d both be fired, that one of them could be transferred, or one of them could be sent out on temporary duty in Somalia or something. Emily knew that it made sense, if something were to happen with their relationship, they were running the risk of hurting their entire unit.

“One of us will probably be transferred to another team.” Emily said after a moment. She chose the least terrifying option to tell JJ. “We might be able to work in the same office, but our relationship wouldn’t get in the way of work.”

JJ let out breath. “You really think that’ll happen?”

“That’s what I’d do if I were the brass.” Emily said, finish her coffee and putting the mug in the sink. “We have to leave in five minutes, Jayj.”

“Okay.” JJ nodded once and frowned. “I think I’m gonna have a heart attack right there in the board room.”

“Just relax.” Emily sighed, patting JJ’s arm. “You’re a damn good agent, you’ve got a great team, our solve rate is high as hell, there’s no way you’ll be fired.”

“Thanks.” JJ smiled a little and kissed Emily’s cheek before finishing her coffee. “And you’re right, I’m too good to be fired.”

“That’s the spirit.” Emily grinned, checking her watch. “Ready to leave?”

“Yeah.”

The ride to Quantico was quiet and anxiety filled. Even though Emily was great at reassuring JJ, she hadn’t quite been able to convince herself that they’d be okay. A small part of Emily hoped that the team would be called away on a case, at least they’d have the chance to put off their hearing for a few days. And they’d have taken another serial killer off the streets. It sounded like a good idea.

“Good morning, ladies.” Morgan said as the two of them entered the bullpen. “Ready for your hearing?”

“No.” Emily sighed, putting her stuff at her desk. “Neither is JJ,” She looked over to JJ’s desk and frowned. “Our hearing is in ten minutes, what are the odds of getting a case in that time?”

“It’s possible.” Reid said as he walked into the bullpen. He patted JJ’s shoulder and set his things down on the desk. “But I’m willing to bet Strauss will keep you both here.”

“Yeah, I know.” Emily rolled her eyes.

 

* * *

 

“And how long have you and Agent Jareau been romantically involved?” Gerald Housier, the man in charge of their hearing, asked Emily.

“About a year and two months.” Emily answered after a couple seconds of thinking.

Their hearings were held separately, not that Emily was surprised. She was irritated, but not surprised. Housier was calm and asked all of the questions that Emily had predicted. How long their relationship had been going on, whether or not it started out as sexual harassment, if their relationship had affected any cases that they’d worked on. Emily was sure that she’d answered them well, at least she didn’t swear at him or pull out her gun.

“Well, your section chief has finished her interview with Agent Jareau.” Housier said after almost an hour of questioning. “And I’m happy to say that the both of you will be able to keep your jobs.” He paused and gave Emily a serious look. “Provided both of your stories match up.”

“Stories always match up when people are telling the truth, Mr. Housier.” Emily said evenly, taking in a deep breath. “Sir, I’d like it on the record that if any... transfers were to happen, that I would be the one to be transferred. Agent Jareau has been with the BAU longer than I have, it only makes sense that she be the one to keep her job.”

“Confident that you’ll land on your feet, Agent Prentiss?” Housier chuckled dryly.

“No, just doing the right thing, sir.” Emily sighed.

“Well, then you’re free to go.”

Emily smiled and stood up before leaving the room.

JJ was sitting on the bench in the hallway outside the room. She looked up and offered Emily a small smile as Emily sat down on the other end. It wouldn’t look good if they were too close when Strauss and Housier got done talking to each other.

“How’d it go?” Emily asked, she bit her lip and clasped her hands together, trying to stop herself from picking at her nails.

“I told the truth.” JJ replied quietly. “You?”

“Same.” Emily nodded, giving JJ a small smile. “But at least I didn’t have to deal with Strauss.”

“Yeah, she hates you.” JJ chuckled, leaning back in her seat. “She’d fire you on the spot, wouldn’t she?”

“She might get the chance to.” Emily said. “I told Mr. Housier that if anyone were to lose their job, it should be me.”

“Emily, what the hell?” JJ exclaimed, glaring at Emily.

“Keep your voice down.” Emily replied calmly when they got a look from a passerby.

“How the hell could you do that?!” JJ whispered angrily. She might as well have been yelling.

“You’ve worked in the BAU longer than I have, it makes sense. And I don’t want to stress you out, you still have Henry to deal with.”

“Well now if you get fired, it’ll be my fault! You put the idea in his head!”

“I didn’t mention firing, just transferring and such.”

“Em! We agreed that we’d both share the consequences!”

“Yeah, but it made sense.”

“You’re an idiot!” JJ groaned, she put her head in her hands and let out a breath. “You’re so dumb. So, so dumb.”

Emily chuckled.

“But...” JJ continued, smiling a little. “That’s why I love you.”

They were quiet as soon as the words left JJ’s mouth. They’d never said ‘I love you’s before, not while they were dating anyway. Emily’s mouth went dry and she frowned, first her hearing, now this? Life wasn’t fair sometimes, was it? JJ was watching her out of the corner of her eye, discreet, but Emily noticed easily enough.

After being together for over a year, it was normal to be in love after that much time. Emily frowned, of course she cared for JJ. A lot actually, this was the most serious relationship she’d ever been in. But love? Was that why she always felt warmer when JJ was aroun? Why everything felt lighter? Why hearing her voice had a calming effect? Emily idly wished that Reid could take a look at her brain chemistry and tell her if it was love. It was all chemistry, right? Nothing special, nothing too big.

“You don’t have to say it back.” JJ mumbled, looking away. “It’s okay, I just... needed to tell you.”

Emily was about to open her mouth when Strauss and Housier stepped into the hall and ushered them inside. She and JJ sat on opposite ends of the sofa, now with an air of awkwardness between them. It was a good thing neither Strauss nor Housier were profilers, or else she and JJ would have a lot more questions to answer.

“We’ve come to a decision.” Strauss said with a sigh. “While we’re thankful that you both told the truth, or at least took the time to get your stories straight,” Emily could hear the venom in her tone. “We have to take certain steps to protect the team and the bureau. Neither of you will lose your jobs.”

Some of the weight was lifted off of Emily’s chest. But only a little bit.

“But in order to protect your team, you both cannot work in the field together.” Strauss continued. “I’m sure you both know why. Agent Prentiss will be transferred to another team in the unit. She’ll still work in the office, if you both maintain a professional relationship when on duty.”

“Of course we can, ma’am.” JJ said quickly.

“And you’ll have to file the proper paperwork describing the nature of your relationship.” Housier set two files in front of them. “I’ll need these filled out and on my desk as soon as possible.”

“Of course sir.” Emily nodded, biting her lip.

“Agent Prentiss, your new team is currently out on a case, so you’ll have to wait until they return to go back into the field.” Strauss said, now glaring at her. “I can’t risk having the both of you in the field together, surely you understand.”

“We do, ma’am.” Emily nodded again.

“Then you’re free to go.” Strauss gestured to the door and sat down at her desk. “Stay professional, the last thing I want is to see a video of two of my agents fraternizing in the FBI headquarters.”

“Of course, ma’am.”

Emily grabbed her file first and stood up, followed quickly by JJ, before leaving the room. They walked quietly down the hall and into the bullpen, only to be greeted by a loud cheering from their desks. Garcia was waiting for them, looking completely and utterly thrilled, despite not knowing what had happened. Or maybe she did. Garcia was the ‘oracle of all things known and unknown,’ it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities.

“We’re not fired.” Emily said with a smile, earning a giant hug from Garcia before she moved to JJ.

“I knew it! I knew we’d all be okay!” Garcia exclaimed. “They can’t tear apart our family! I knew they wouldn’t.”

“... About that...” JJ mumbled. “We’re not fired, but Em has been... uh...”

“I’ve been transferred to a different team.” Emily said quickly, watching as Morgan, Reid, and Garcia’s faces fell. “But I’ll still work in the office with all of you, we just won’t... you know, basically live together.”

“Bullshit.” Morgan grumbled, crossing his arms. “That’s complete and utter bullshit.”

“But we’ll miss you.” Reid mumbled, biting his lip.

“Reid, it’s not like I’m leaving the country,” Emily sighed and hugged her friend. “And you can always call. I promise.”

Reid nodded once and squeezed Emily back.

Hotch and Rossi took the news extremely well, both of them seemed to understand that the two of them were getting off easy. This didn’t change the fact that both of them were disappointed, Rossi had even offered to buy Emily a going away bottle of scotch. Which she graciously accepted, knowing Rossi it was going to be exactly her age and probably a higher quality than anything she’d ever bought herself.

“That was fun.” Emily mumbled while she and JJ were getting lunch. “I can’t believe I’m not on your team anymore...”

“I can’t believe we weren’t fired.” JJ sighed, leaning back in her seat. “Now I can go home and tell Henry that Mommy still has her job.”

“That means he can still have his birthday party.” Emily grinned. “What should I get him?”

“He’s gonna be five, nothing too extreme.” JJ replied with a laugh. “No remote controlled helicopters, or anything that can break my house.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “But those are the fun toys.”

“Then he can play with them at your house.”

Emily laughed and looked at JJ. It was always so easy to talk to her. She even considered letting Henry keep his more destructive toys at her place for a moment. Now that was love, for Henry or for JJ, she wasn’t sure. But then again, couldn’t it be both?

“I love you.” Emily said quickly, she wasn’t even sure if JJ heard.

That is until she was almost knocked to the ground by JJ’s weight when the blonde all but threw herself at Emily. A laugh escaped Emily’s lips before JJ placed a chaste kiss on her lips. If they weren’t in public, Emily would’ve let it go on forever.

“We do have to get back to work soon, you know.” Emily said when JJ pulled away.

“Yeah, but I’m in love, so it doesn’t really matter.”


	7. Neighbors (Part 2)

“What suburban nonsense is this?” Emily asked herself quietly when she was on her morning jog.

In front of her was a flyer promoting a ‘block party’ that everyone in the neighborhood was invited to. Apparently their street was going to be closed on Saturday, part of Emily wanted to park her car just outside the perimeter of the party, just in case she needed a quick getaway. Emily sighed and frowned at the flyer, she just knew that this was the kind of nonsense that she would be dragged into.

JJ laughed at her when she got home and explained the situation. Apparently this was a yearly thing, which made absolutely no sense to Emily. Why couldn’t neighbors just be polite, but keep out of each other’s business? She didn’t mind a nod and a smile here and there, but throwing an entire party just seemed like they were flaunting the neighborhood’s ‘closeness.’

“By all accounts, it doesn’t make sense.” Emily mumbled to herself as she got ready for work.

“Em, I grew up in tighter knit neighborhoods than this,” JJ said with a laugh. “Trust me, this isn’t unusual.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Emily sighed, tossing on her jacket and glancing in the mirror. “The suburbs are ridiculous.”

“It wouldn’t seem so ridiculous if you grew up here.” JJ replied, she took two steps toward Emily and kissed her quickly. “Now come on, Henry’s gonna be up any minute and you know he worries if we’re not waiting for him.”

“Alright.”

Emily followed JJ down the stairs and into the kitchen. She watched as JJ started making breakfast, apparently today was a pancake day. Emily started the coffee pot and looking up when she heard Henry stomping down the steps. Emily laughed a little when she saw Henry jump the last step and stumble a little bit when he landed.

“You okay there, pal?” Emily asked, earning a wide grin from Henry.

“Yeah.” Henry nodded once and ran over to the kitchen.

He was already dressed in the clothes that JJ had set out for him the night before, and his hair was sticking up at odd angles. Henry always had the worst case of bedhead that Emily had ever seen. And she’d been around a hungover Garcia after a very... successful girls’ night out.

“Nice hair, little man.” JJ smiled as Henry climbed onto the stool at the counter and watched his mother work. “We’re gonna need to drag a brush through that mess before we can allow you to be seen in public.”

“Whatcha making?” Henry asked, craning his neck to get a look at the stove.

“Pancakes.” JJ replied, elbowing Emily a little. “Em, get out the butter and the syrup.”

“Sure.” Emily did as she was told, placing the butter and syrup on the counter. “Do you want milk or juice today, Henry?”

“What’re you having?” Henry watched as Emily put a glass in front of him.

“Coffee.” Emily said with a grin. “Want some?”

“My son is not drinking coffee.” JJ said as she tossed a few pancakes onto the plate.

“Oh come on, Jayj.” Emily rolled her eyes and pulled out two mugs before filling each cup. “My mom let me drink it when I was younger than him, let the kid live a little.”

“Emily Prentiss, you know exactly what you’re doing and I will have no part in it.” JJ laughed a little.

“How do you take your coffee, Henry?” Emily asked as she set the mug in front of him.

“How do you?” Henry furrowed his brow and looked at the mug.

“Black, sometimes with a little sugar.” Emily took a sip of her coffee and smiled. “It depends on how I’m feeling. Today’s not a sugar day.”

“Well, I want mine to be like yours.” Henry announced, grabbing his mug and taking a large gulp.

Emily watched as Henry’s look of anticipation slowly morph into one of horror and regret. He swallowed the coffee and pushed the mug away from himself, sending Emily a glare as she poured him a glass of milk with a smile. Henry watched with distrustful eyes as Emily pushed the milk toward him, she remembered acting the same way when Elizabeth Prentiss let her have a drink of her coffee.

“How can you drink that?” Henry asked when JJ put the stack of pancakes in front of him and took the mug from in front of him, taking a large sip. “It’s so bad!”

“You’ll understand when you’re a grown up.” JJ replied, handing Emily a plate of pancakes and quickly kissing her.

“That’s gross.” Henry grumbled as he practically drowned his pancakes in syrup.

“The coffee or us?”

“Both!”

 

* * *

 

Saturday came around much faster than Emily would have liked, and unfortunately no serial killers had decided to strike and cause either of them to leave the state. Well, it was fortunate for everyone but Emily, who would rather pull out her own teeth than socialize with the neighbors. She could just imagine all of the questions that they would ask her, how many times she’d have to explain that she and JJ were not in fact ‘live in gal pals,’ or how children screaming would make her think that someone was being murdered. God, she didn’t need this.

“Just calm down, Em.” JJ sighed before they were about to leave the house. “It’ll be fine.”

“If one old lady decides to ask me when I’m gonna make an honest woman out of you, I’m leaving.” Emily said with a laugh, opening the door. “Or you might end up profiling me.”

JJ rolled her eyes and followed Henry out the door. “Come on, the neighbors aren’t gonna harass you if you stay inside.”

It was like Emily was the shiny, new toy as a daycare. She’d been living with JJ for almost a month now, but they’d barely even seen her because of the five cases she’d been on. Hell, JJ had barely seen Emily and they lived together. Was it too much to ask for one relaxing Saturday without ridiculous parties or serial killer? It was completely and utterly rude of the universe to do this to her. Emily was a good person, she pays her taxes, she recycles, why was the universe choosing to punish her in new and more creative ways?

“Hi.” A little boy said to her two minutes into the ‘party.’ “My mom says that you’re an agent, like Miss Jareau.”

Emily nodded and smiled a little. “Yes, I work for the FBI.”

“Do you have a gun?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever shot someone?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever been shot?”

“Yes.”

“Did you die?!” The little boy looked a little panicked now and Emily suddenly felt a little bad for scaring the child.

“Uh...” Emily looked at JJ and frowned a little. If she were being honest, then yes, she did technically die once. JJ shook her head slightly. “Once or twice.”

“Wow.” The little boy hopped around a little before running over to his mom and pointing at Emily. “That lady’s the coolest! She’s my hero!”

“Looks like you’re gonna get your own fanclub, Em.” JJ laughed as the little boy ran over to one of his friends and pointed at Emily again. “And Caleb might be trying to become the president.”

Emily watched as Henry ran over to Caleb and started to talk to him. Apparently Caleb was going to have to fight Henry for the title of chapter president. The two boys were talking excitedly, Caleb was listening as Henry told some stories that he’d heard from the two women. Emily vaguely heard the words ‘hit by a truck and lived’ before Caleb let out an excited shriek.

The party lasted almost six hours, or at least that’s how long Emily could stand it. In that time, most of JJ’s team came to visit, or rather, JJ called them over to watch Emily get treated like a puppy brought into a preschool. Hotch had even brought Jack with him when he came to laugh at her.

She was hit on by two teenage boys and eight middle aged men, whose marriages probably ended due to infidelity, but that was just Emily’s theory. Henry had managed to drag Emily and JJ around the party, convincing them to win him prizes. This then started a minor contest between JJ and Emily, seeing who could win the biggest prize, which was a giant, stuffed tiger. Emily smiled when she saw the look on Henry’s face when she gave it to him. That tiger was bigger than he was.

“It’s kind of funny that Jack is the only kid in the world who’s not enchanted by you.” JJ laughed when Jack blew Emily off to give her a hug goodbye.

“Well, that’s one less kid climbing on me at the end of the day.” Emily sighed, picking up Henry, who looked dead on his feet. “I only have room for one kid these days, anyway.”

“That’s me, right?” Henry yawned, burying his head in Emily’s shoulder.

“Yeah, pal, that’s you.” Emily smiled, kissing the top of Henry’s head and watching as JJ carried the prizes.

“Good.” Henry sighed. “Did you have fun today?”

“Yeah.” Emily replied, opening the gate to the front yard and holding it for JJ. “How about you?”

“Mhmm.” Henry nodded as Emily carried him inside the house.

“Tired?” JJ asked, setting the prizes on the counter.

“No.” Henry shook his head, not bothering to conceal his yawn.

“Well, I am.” Emily said, winking at JJ and earning a smile from her girlfriend. “And I wish I could go to bed right now, right Jayj?”

“Oh, definitely.” JJ replied, leaning against the counter. “Do you wanna sleep in our bed tonight?”

Henry nodded and Emily sighed, heading to the stairs. She helped Henry get changed into his pajamas, the red ones with the dinosaurs on them. Emily carried Henry to her and JJ’s room, thankful that she and JJ had cleaned up the day before. Pressing a kiss to Henry’s forehead, Emily tucked the little boy in, making sure to place him directly in the center of the bed.

“Goodnight, pal.” Emily smiled as JJ entered the room. “Hey, Jayj.”

JJ kissed Emily quickly and moved to her son. “We’ll be back in a little bit, okay?”

“Kay.” Henry yawned and hugged his mother. “Night, Mom.”

“Goodnight, buddy.” JJ kissed Henry’s forehead. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” Henry’s eyes were closed now.

They left the room together and entered the living room. Emily flopped onto the sofa face first and let out a tired groan, god she was exhausted. She felt JJ sit down beside her and place a hand on her back, JJ started tracing random patterns on her back. If JJ wasn’t careful, Emily was sure that she’d fall asleep right then and there.

“Thank you.” JJ said quietly, laying down beside Emily now.

“For what?” Emily asked, adjusting her position a little so they were face to face.

“I know you weren’t exactly thrilled about today.”

“You and Henry wanted to go, so...”

“Well, tomorrow, we’ll do what you want.”

Emily grinned and kissed JJ quickly. “We’re gonna spend the entire day at home, relaxing.”

“I don’t have a problem with that.”


	8. Permissions

“Exactly when do you plan on making an honest woman out of the lovely Jennifer Jareau?” Garcia asked when she and Emily were having lunch in her office while JJ and her team were on a case.

“You know I’m not really the marrying type, Garcia.” Emily sighed, sipping her drink. “Besides, we’re in a great place in our relationship, why change that now?”

“Tax benefits?” Garcia said after a moment. “Love? Celebrating that Virginia has marriage equality? Love?” Garcia paused for a moment. “What if one of us got ordained!? Can you imagine if I married the both of you?”

“Wouldn’t you want to claim the maid of honor title?” Emily sighed, frowning at what she said. “Hypothetically speaking. And if we’re still in the world of hypotheticals, why am I the one proposing? Why can’t she propose to me?”

“Because you would have a panic attack if JJ got you a ring and you know it.” Garcia shrugged. “And face it, you’re the butchy one, you have to do the proposing.”

“That was rude and uncalled for.” Emily said, frowning a little when Garcia got a call from Morgan.

“I’ve gotta do my job and get your girl home, this conversation isn’t over.” Garcia said before answering Morgan.

“Do your thing, Garcia.” Emily rolled her eyes and stood up before leaving the room.

She walked to her desk and flopped in her seat, glancing at JJ and Reid’s empty desks and frowning. Even though she hadn’t been on their team in over two years, it still felt strange for them to be away and for her to be stuck in the bullpen. Emily really missed working with them, but the alternative was even worse to imagine.

A sigh escaped her lips as she got back to her paperwork, Emily had only just gotten back from a case the day before. She and JJ only had about five minutes to greet each other before Hotch and Garcia  dragged her away to the conference room. God Emily hated when serial killers ruined her time with JJ.

Garcia’s question still rang through her head as she worked on the file before her. Was marriage the next step? Emily found herself idly wondering what the next step would be if it weren’t marriage, they lived together, they were each other’s emergency contacts... Hell, Emily was one of Henry’s emergency contacts... And she was always willing to take care of Henry. It was almost like Henry saw her as another mom. How many mothers did Henry even need?

Emily shook her head and sighed, she needed to stop worrying about Henry’s obscene amount of mothers and worry about whether or not she should propose to her girlfriend!

 

* * *

 

Emily sighed as she parked outside Will’s house to pick up Henry. She cracked her neck before climbing out of the car and walking to the front door. JJ was going to be back late at night, or early in the morning depending on when Hotch wanted to leave. Meaning Emily and Henry got to spend a good chunk of time together.

Will answered the door quickly after Emily rang the doorbell and smiled his greeting when he let Emily in. There were a lot of things that Emily was thankful for, but Will being a genuinely good guy was near the top of her list. It was also fortunate that Will still saw her as a friend, even though they wouldn’t have known each other at all if it weren’t for his past relationship with JJ. Though she supposed he could be grateful to the entire team for helping him with a case, and proving that his now dead best friend was gay and cheating on his fiancee... but it was probably the first one if Emily were being honest.

“Hi, Will.” Emily smiled, taking Henry’s backpack from the man. “How’s Henry?”

“Excited to see you and JJ.” Will replied with a laugh. “Bummed that he can’t stay with me and Meg.”

“How is Meg, by the way?” Emily asked. Megan was six months pregnant and odds are, she was pretty miserable, not that Emily would ever mention that.

“Tired, irritable, but pretty damn excited.” Will’s smile was infectious. “We’re having a girl and I just got done with the nursery.”

“Really?” Emily’s smile widened. “What’s the theme?”

“Noah’s ark.”

“Oh man, that’s awesome. She’s gonna make all the other babies jealous.”

“Right?” Will laughed, looking to the stairs near the living room. “Henry, Emily’s here, it’s time to go, pal!”

“Have you thought of names yet?” Emily asked when she heard Henry stomping around upstairs. “Because Emily is a great name.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Will replied with a wink. “Now that Meg and I are expecting, I can’t help but wonder when you and JJ are gonna stop living in sin and finally tie the knot...?”

“You are the second person to ask about this in a week.” Emily rolled her eyes. “Do you guys go to meetings and discuss my love life?”

“No, Meg was curious.” Will shook his head. “Doctor has her stuck in bed for a couple days, she keeps thinking she’s missin’ something important.”

“Emily!” Henry exclaimed, running through the living room and latching onto Emily’s legs. “I missed you!”

“I can see that.” Emily smiled, peeling Henry off her legs and picking him up. “I missed you too.”

“I know.” Henry replied, making a face when Emily kissed his cheek.

“Ready to go?” Emily set Henry down and let him hug Will.

“Yeah.” Henry nodded once and took Emily’s hand, trying to pull her out the door.

“Bye, Will.” Emily said, allowing Henry to pull her. “Tell Meg I said hi.”

“No problem, give my best to JJ.” Will offered a wave and followed them to the door. “Bye, Emily. See ya in a bit, Henry.”

Henry hated his booster seat almost as much as Emily hated wrestling him into it. Once she was done and sure that Henry wasn’t going to escape, it’d happened before, but Emily was going to make damn sure that it wouldn’t happen again, she climbed into the front seat and started the car. Emily didn’t drive very creatively when Henry was in the car, mostly due to the look of terror on JJ’s face the first, and only, time she had done it.

“So, Henry, have you had dinner?” Emily asked when she pulled up to a stop light.

“I had some, but I’m hungry again.” Henry mumbled, holding his stomach before smiling widely. “Why?”

“What are you hungry for?” If Emily were being honest, all she wanted at the moment was cashew chicken and a dozen egg rolls all to herself, but she was going to give Henry the chance to pick something first.

“... I liked that chicken we got when you and Mom didn’t wanna cook.” Henry replied, making Emily laugh.

“So you want orange chicken?”

“Yeah!”

“Okay, pal.”

Forty-five minutes and one phone call to her favorite delivery place later and Emily and Henry were sitting at the coffee table, happily eating. Some cartoon was playing on the TV, some silly show about a plucky band of superheroes trying to fight evil and getting home before dinner. Emily didn’t care that much about what was happening in the show, but Henry liked it. A lot.

“You and my mom are cooler than those guys.” Henry announced as he failed to use his chopsticks.

“And why is that?” Emily asked, leaning over and repositioning Henry’s hand, helping him use the chopsticks.

“Because you’re real.” Henry replied, taking a bite and grinning. “Did you see that?!”

“Yep, good job, pal.” Emily took a bite out of her egg roll. “You know, your mom can’t use chopsticks.” She watched as Henry sloppily, but effectively managed to get another mouthful of food in his mouth. “Your skills are far superior to your mother’s, trust me.”

“My mom uses a fork.” Henry nodded, happily taking another bite.

“Yeah, she does.” Emily grinned.

They were quiet for a while before Henry spoke again.

“You love my mom, right?” He asked quietly.

Emily frowned a little at the question, she was sure that Henry had heard her say it a million times. She was also sure that this was going somewhere potentially uncomfortable and would result in her having to explain some things to a seven year old that she never thought she would have to.

“Of course I love your mom.” Emily said seriously, making eye contact with Henry.

“My dad says that when people are in love, they get married.” Henry continued and Emily wanted to die. “You and my mom aren’t married, though...”

“That doesn’t mean we’re not in love.” Emily replied calmly. “Sometimes when two people love each other, they decide to get married. Other times, they don’t want to, or the time isn’t right, or...”

“Why aren’t you married then?” Henry asked, frowning a little.

“Because...” A seven year old shouldn’t be able to make Emily question where she and JJ were in their relationship. “Because weddings take a lot of time to plan, and it’s really hard to... plan a wedding with our jobs. It would be awful to miss my own wedding right?”

“I guess.” Henry nodded. “But would you get married to my mom?”

“...” That was a bit of a loaded questions. “I can’t because... I don’t have a ring...”

Henry was quiet. “Then go buy one...”

“It’s not that simple, Henry.”

“It sounds pretty simple.”

 

* * *

 

“I’m sorry, Jayj, but there’s no way around it.” Emily sighed as she packed her bag. “I must have promised my mother without listening and now she’s cashing in.”

“But it’s the weekend.” JJ groaned, falling back onto the bed. “And I don’t have a case! And you don’t have a case! And it’s Will’s weekend! The world is our oyster, but you’re stuck going to some charity event for your mom.”

“I’ll be back later tonight.” Emily rolled her eyes. “And I already scheduled Garcia to come babysit you, enjoy your night with her.” She paused as she shouldered her bag. “There’s a bottle of Everclear hidden somewhere in the closet, find it, have a good time, don’t get arrested.”

“I can’t make any promises.” JJ sighed, smiling a little when Emily bent down and kissed her quickly before walking to the door. “But I promise to call if someone brings me in.”

“I love you.” Emily said, checking her watch. Her cab should be there any minute.

“You know, I could always drive you to the airport.”

“I already called for a cab, Garcia will be here in an hour. I’ll be home tonight, tomorrow morning at the latest..”

“I don’t want Garcia, I want you.” JJ whined as Emily exited the room.

“That’s definitely encouraging, but I do need to go. My mother will kill me if I’m late.”

Emily hated lying to JJ, usually she was terrible at it. What if JJ could tell she was lying and thought she was having an affair? What if JJ read Emily messages and found out she was going to Pennsylvania? Though, if Emily were being honest, it would be Garcia who was the one to hack into her accounts and ruin her entire life.

It was about an hour until she was in Pittsburg, another ten minutes to pick up her rental car, and thirty until she was driving down the street to JJ’s childhood home. Emily frowned a little when she pulled into Sandy Jareau’s driveway. The older woman had known that Emily was coming, would probably end up lying to her child, and made amazing cookies, so there was nothing to be afraid of. That and the fact that Sandy Jareau didn’t believe in guns, so Emily wasn’t in mortal danger.

“Emily!” Sandy exclaimed when she answered the door, throwing her arms around the younger brunette’s shoulders. “It’s good to see you, honey.”

“Thanks, Sandy.” Emily returned the embrace and pulled away. “It’s nice to see you too.”

“I made snickerdoodles,” Sandy said, tugging Emily into the house and all but shoving her onto the sofa. “Now what was so important that you had to ruin your Friday night to come see me?”

“I’m not ruining my Friday night.” Emily smiled when Sandy put a plate of cookies on her lap. “I’m spending time with my lovely girlfriend’s lovely mother.”

“But?” Sandy prompted, sitting across from Emily in the rocking chair.

Emily’s smile faded a little as she found herself regretting all of her decisions. She glanced around the living room, idly thinking that the entire house reminded her of Little House on the Prairie. There were pictures all over the walls, family photos, school pictures of Henry, a picture of her, JJ, and Henry when they came to visit last Christmas, there weren’t any photos of her in her own mother’s house.

“But?” Sandy repeated, causing Emily to jump a little.

“You’re right, there is a but.” Emily sighed, taking in a deep breath and setting the cookies on the end table, she could already see herself sweeping them up later. “I just need to ask you something really important...”

“Well, I’m all ears, honey.”

“There aren’t any solid plans now, but...” Emily paused and looked into the older woman’s eyes. “If I were to ask your daughter to marry me, would I have your blessing?”

“You’re...” Sandy paused for a moment and stared at Emily before letting out a loud squeal and lunging at her. “You’re going to ask my baby girl to marry you! Oh my god!” Sandy froze and pulled away suddenly, looking Emily in the eye. “You don’t have a ring yet, do you?”

Emily blinked twice. “Uh.. no... not yet.”

“Stay right where you are.” Sandy commanded, getting off of Emily and heading down the hall.

Emily sat still, her jaw hanging slightly. She now understood what witnesses meant when they said that ‘everything happened so fast.’ It was ridiculous that she was rended speechless, and motionless, by the simple act of a hug and a screech. Her mind could hardly process what had happened.

“This is for you to propose to her with.” Sandy stated as she entered the room with an old ring box. “It was my mother’s and mine, and I can tell you that my daughter has been coveting this ring since she was old enough to know what it meant.”

Emily stared at the ring silently. It was a simple gold band with a single diamond in the center and two smaller ones on either side. A small smile formed on Emily’s face when Sandy put the box in her hand. Her heart was beating rapidly and she couldn’t believe that JJ’s mother was giving her a ring that was older than she was.

“I can’t... I can’t take this.” Emily said, letting out a nervous laugh.

“Jen will be touched to know that you came to ask me for permission before you did anything.” Sandy shook her head and pulled her hand away when Emily tried to give the ring back. “She’s going to love that I trusted you enough to give you her grandmother’s ring.”

“You want me to propose to her with this ring...” Emily mumbled, mostly to herself. “I don’t even know if I’m going to...” She looked up at Sandy. “I was just asking for your blessing.”

“Would you still marry her if I said no?” Sandy asked, her voice was soft now.

“If you said no, I’d probably be on a plane to DC by now and have already called a jeweler to have a ring commissioned.” Emily said honestly before her cheeks turned slightly red. “I have a bit of a rebellious side...“

“Well, if you were going to do that if I said no, then you should be able to do the same thing with a yes, right?”

“... Right...”

Sandy grinned as Emily put the ring in her pocket. “Good, now eat those snickerdoodles, I have a few dishes of them in the kitchen for you to bring back to Jen and Henry... And Penelope, too.”

“Fine, but only because these are the best cookies in the world.”

 

* * *

 

Emily took a cab back to her and JJ’s place three and a half hours later, thanking her lucky stars that she was able to change her flight time. She sat in the car for a minute, playing with the box in her pocket. It would be smart to plan this out, to bring up the idea of marriage first and test the waters, to maybe do everything completely unlike her normal way of acting. Maybe she shouldn’t be fast and loose.

But then again, who would she be if she actually thought everything through.

She stepped through the door and wasn’t at all surprised to see JJ and Garcia sitting on the sofa watching... Emily was sure that it was Dexter. Okay, that surprised her a little. Emily leaned over the back of the sofa and kissed JJ quickly, smiling a little when JJ leaned up and kissed her back. A laugh escaped Emily’s lips when JJ pulled her down, causing her to accidentally take a nosedive right into JJ’s lap.

“Hi.” JJ said with a wide grin.

“Hi.” Emily replied, repositioning herself so she was sitting on the floor.

“Do I need to go?” Garcia asked from the other sofa. She wore a wide grin on her face, obviously not at all upset by her friends’ display of affection. “Because if I wanted to watch Wrestlemania, I’d watch it at my own place.”

“Just wait until one of us grabs a chair.” Emily replied, smiling at Garcia. “How can you watch this?” She pointed at the TV just as an unsub plunged a knife into his victim’s chest. “We see this kind of thing every day.”

“This unsub is really weird though.” JJ said, looking back at the show. “He kills bad people.”

“I’ve killed a bad person, you’re not nearly as interested in me.” Emily climbed on to the sofa and sighed a little when JJ leaned into her.

“You don’t stalk them, though.” JJ murmured.

“But I hunt them.” Emily kissed JJ’s cheek. “And so do you. We’re much more interesting than a psychopath with mother issues.”

“Shut up.” JJ said, turning her head to kiss Emily again. “How was your thing with your mom?”

“Oddly successful...” Emily replied, smiling a little. “All I could think about was you, though.”

“You’re both really cute.” Garcia sighed, standing up and stretching, before walking to the door. “But I really need to go, my dear lovebirds. Your displays of affection are starting to disgust me.”

“Sorry, Garcia.” JJ said, leaning up to give Garcia an apologetic smile.

“You’re okay to drive, right?” Emily asked with a small frown.

“We never found your stash, babe.” Garcia said, grabbing her purse and offering the two women a wave. “Remember, be safe. Don’t do anything that could get either of you injured. And remember to keep hydrated.”

“Goodnight, Garcia.” JJ rolled her eyes as her friend left the house.  “You weren’t gone as long as I thought you were gonna be.”

“I escaped early.” Emily replied, it wasn’t a lie, she had to pry Sandy off of her so she could get home as soon as possible. “Emphasis on escape.”

JJ chuckled. “I thought I was gonna be alone all night.”

Emily smiled a little and helped JJ reposition herself so that they were facing each other. Her hands gripped JJ’s hips and she pulled the blonde closer, kissing her neck. Making out on the sofa always made Emily feel like a teenager again, idly paranoid that someone at least twice her age would appear in the doorway and pull them apart.

“Oh my god.” JJ laughed just as someone was violently murdered on the screen. “What the hell even is this show?!”

Emily grabbed the remote and turned the TV off. “Better?”

“No, I was watching that.” JJ rested her head on Emily’s shoulder.

“I thought we were doing something else.” Emily sighed, kissing JJ’s forehead.

“I can multi-task.” JJ replied, smiling widely.

“I don’t believe you.”

 

* * *

 

Emily sat at her desk three weeks later, staring at a finished file. Five more minutes before Hotch’s team returned from their case, that they had left for last night. Emily loved it when it only took half a day to catch an unsub, it made everyone’s life much easier.

“Hey, Prentiss.” Morgan grinned as he entered the bullpen. “Guess who’s back.”

“I guess all of you?” Emily spun around in her chair and grinned at her friend. “Where’s the rest of the team.”

“Right here.” Rossi sighed, clapping Emily on the shoulder before walking toward his office. “Easy solve, no one got shot.”

“Thank god,” Emily rolled her eyes as Reid sat down at his desk and JJ entered the room. “Hey, Jayj.”

“Hey.” JJ leaned down and pecked Emily’s lips before sitting at her desk. “Miss me?”

“You weren’t gone long enough for me to miss.” Emily replied with a grin.

“We’re going out tonight.” Morgan said, sitting on Emily’s desk and crossing his arms.

“Can’t, Henry’s gonna be home tonight.” Emily said, grabbing another file off her desk.

“Did I forget to mention that I’m not taking no for an answer and that your girlfriend already gave you permission?” Morgan grinned at the small frown that formed.

“You planned a play date for me?” Emily asked, turning to look at JJ, who was wearing an amused grin. “Is that normal?”

“Probably not, but we’re going out.” Morgan grinned, poking the file on Emily’s desk. “Hurry up, it’s just gonna be you, me, and my baby girl.”

Thirty minutes later, Emily was entering the bar with Garcia and Morgan. She and Garcia got a table while Morgan went to get the first round. Normally, Emily would think nothing of being forced into the bar by Morgan and Garcia, but the blonde had started giving Emily strange looks when she thought no one was looking.

“What’s up, Garcia?” Emily sighed, causing her friend to jump a little in her seat.

“What are you talking about, sugarplum?” Garcia feigned innocence.

“Why are you giving me weird looks?” Emily asked, glancing back at the bar where Morgan still was.

“Because I know.” Garcia grinned widely.

“Know what?”

“I know about what you’re keeping in your jacket pocket.”

Emily froze and reached into her pocket, playing with the velvet ring box that she hadn’t let out of her sight since JJ’s mother had given it to her. She wasn’t even sure if she was going to propose yet, it just felt wrong to leave the box anywhere else. Especially not with a seven year old and a cat running around her house, she couldn’t afford to lose the ring.

“It’s not what you think.” Emily said quickly.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” Garcia rolled her eyes. “Now let me see it!”

“I’m not proposing!”

“Then why did you buy a ring?”

“I didn’t buy a ring, it was a gift.”

“From who?”

“JJ’s mom...”

“When did you see-” Garcia cut herself off with a look of realization. “You lied, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but it was really important.” Emily frowned as Morgan returned.

“You already talk to her about the ring box, baby girl? Morgan asked, setting a beer in front of Emily.

“Yeah.” Garcia nodded, taking a sip of her drink. “It was a gift from JJ’s mom.”

“Even Mama Jareau is on your ass.” Morgan shook his head and laughed. “What? Did she mail the ring to you?”

“No, I went to Pennsylvania.” Emily replied, taking a drink of her beer. “Three weeks ago, I needed to ask her something, next thing I know, I have a ring and apparently I’m marrying her daughter.”

“Damn, Prentiss.” Morgan leaned on the table. “Do you want to get married?”

“I’m not really the marrying type.” Emily frowned. “But then again, I wasn’t the suburban type, either. Or a long term relationship type. Or...”

“Sounds like you’re just the JJ type.” Garcia smiled widely. “I think you should do it.”

“You said the same thing when we first started going out.” Emily rolled her eyes. “You just want to be a maid of honor.”

“I just want to see my friends happy.” Garcia grumbled, crossing her arms. “And there are a lot of benefits, like tax benefits, next of kin, power of attorney, if one of you dies there’s less of a hassle, if one of you is hurt, you can visit in intensive care... You can file for becoming Henry’s step mom, marital communications privilege, the list goes on!”

“There’s also the whole ‘love’ thing, too.” Morgan added. “And you have a lot of hot friends that I can flirt with at your wedding.”

“I just don’t know if I’m ready...” Emily sighed, frowning a little.

“Well, you’ll be ready when you’re ready.” Morgan patted Emily’s arm and took another drink. “You wanna keep drinking, or get home to your not fiancee?”

“I’ll stay a little longer,” Emily smiled a little and took a giant gulp of her drink. “At least until I’m drunk enough to ask JJ to marry me.”

 

* * *

 

It took Emily three months to build up the courage to ask. Henry was at Will’s for the weekend, JJ was finishing some follow up paperwork for her last case and wouldn’t be home for at least another hour. Garcia had suggested rose petals, but those always reminded her of a particularly gruesome case that resulted in the deaths of four women and one man. Maybe she could just light a bunch of candles, or try to cook something.  But then again, they’d end up eating macaroni and cheese with chicken nuggets... Heart shaped nuggets might work, but they didn’t convey the right message.

“I’m gonna order Thai food...” Emily mumbled to herself as she picked up the phone.

She set the table nicely, set the boxes on the counter, and pulled out JJ’s favorite bottle of wine, letting it breathe until JJ got home. It seemed like the best plan of action, restaurants were in public and would probably pressure JJ to say yes, so a private proposal it was.

Emily briefly wondered what would happen if JJ said no, how that would affect their relationship. What if they broke up because of this? No, JJ wouldn’t want that. She’d want time. To weigh her options, to see if she was actually ready, to see if Emily was really ready. That made sense, JJ wouldn’t let a botched proposal ruin their relationship, not after putting in almost four years of effort.

“Hey, Em, I’m home.” JJ announced as she entered the house, freezing in the doorway when she saw that Emily had set the table and gotten dinner. “Expecting company?”

“No, just you.” Emily grinned, watching as JJ took off her coat and put her bag by the door before fully entering. “Hungry?”

“Starving.” JJ nodded.

They sat down and Emily poured the wine, smiling a little as JJ took a sip. She played with the ring box in her pocket as they ate, trying to contribute to the conversation while planning the perfect time to give JJ the god damn ring that’d been burning a hole in her pocket for almost four months. Taking in a deep breath, Emily pulled the box out of her pocket and smiled a little.

“Do you remember a few months ago when I had to go to that thing for my mother?” Emily asked, biting her lip.

“Yeah, why?” JJ’s brow furrowed.

“I didn’t go to visit my mother.” Emily said, watching JJ closely. “I went to visit... your mother.”

“My mom?” JJ frowned. “Why the hell would you visit my mom? Without me? And then lie about it? What the hell?”

“It was a surprise.” Emily replied quietly, bringing her left hand up onto the table, still covering the box. “I needed to ask your mom something. And it would have been weird to ask over the phone.”

JJ was quiet as she waited for an answer.

“I needed to ask her if I could...” Emily paused, taking in a deep breath and revealing the box. “And then she gave me this and told me to...”

“What is that?” JJ asked, eyes wide and quickly filling with tears. “Is that what I think it is?”

Emily opened the box. “Probably...” She took in a breath. “Jennifer Jareau... I didn’t really have a speech planned, hell, I wasn’t even sure I’d make it this far...”

“This is the worst proposal ever.” JJ said quietly, wiping her eyes.

“Say you’ll marry me and put me out of my misery then.” Emily sighed, standing up and walking over to JJ. “Please, before I get on one knee and turn into a complete cliche.”

“Yes.” JJ nodded and stood, wrapping her arms around Emily and holding her close. Her tears were wetting Emily’s shirt. “Of course I’ll marry you.”

“Oh thank god.” Emily sighed, letting out a breath and pulling JJ closer. “I’m sorry I lied to you.”

“It’s okay.” JJ pulled away and kissed Emily slowly. “I can’t believe you asked me to marry you...” She paused. “We have an entire wedding to plan now, how do we do that with our jobs?”

“I don’t know.” Emily laughed, slipping the ring on JJ’s finger. “Garcia and our mothers might want to have a hand in planning, so we might luck out...”

“We might...” JJ pulled Emily in for another kiss. “We need to get you a ring, too.”

“Yeah,” Emily replied. “Do you want to call everyone, or do you want to celebrate a little first?”

“I think I want to celebrate all weekend.”


	9. Planning and Execution

Emily sighed when she and JJ walked into the office together the following Monday after her sad excuse for a proposal. She just knew that Garcia would start an uproar the moment she saw the ring on JJ’s finger, probably upset that Emily didn’t call her the moment she decided to pop the question. A smile formed on Emily’s face as she watched JJ sit down at her desk, her ring glittering a little in the fluorescent lights.

“Good morning, ladies.” Reid said as he walked over to his desk before freezing and looking at JJ oddly. “Did something happen this weekend?”

Emily spun around and watched as Reid stared at JJ. “What’s your theory, Dr. Reid?”

JJ chuckled a little as Reid looked her over. “Need a hint, Spence?”

“No.” Reid shook his head and sat down. “Congratulations.” He smiled widely. “I’m just surprised it happened so soon. No offence, Emily, but you never struck me as the type to get married.”

“None taken.” Emily rolled her eyes and turned back to her work. “Don’t tell Garcia that you knew first, though... She’ll kill us.”

“She doesn’t already know?” Reid’s brow furrowed. “Maybe she’ll wait until after the wedding to kill you.”

“Oh, she definitely will.” JJ said, smiling a little. “Garcia won’t do anything to ruin the wedding that you know she’ll want to help plan.”

“Fair enough.” Reid shrugged, looking back at his desk quickly when Morgan and Rossi entered.

“How was everyone’s weekend?” Morgan asked, smiling widely before sitting on Emily’s desk.

“Fine.” Reid replied. “I read this article about simultaneous quantification of autosomal and Y-chromosomal DNA, it was pretty awesome.”

“Sounds like it...” Morgan nodded once before looking at Emily and JJ. “And what about you two?”

“Let me guess, it was a quiet weekend at home?” Rossi teased, crossing his arms and looking at the two women happily.

“Pretty much.” Emily replied with a smirk. “I’m guessing you went to Vegas and got a quickie wedding... Followed by a quickie divorce in Atlantic City?”

“I was only married three times.” Rossi rolled his eyes. “It’s a perfectly reasonable number.”

“No it’s not.” Morgan laughed, elbowing Emily lightly. “And Prentiss is right to be making fun of you. Two is acceptable, three is excessive.”

“The divorce rates in this country are incredibly high.” Rossi replied with a frown. “One in every two marriages ends in divorce these days.”

“And you’re just adding to the statistic.” JJ said, scooting over to where Emily was sitting and taking her fiancee’s hand.

“JJ’s right, Rossi.” Reid smiled. “You’re probably an outlier by now and shouldn’t be counted.”

Emily let out a bark of a laugh and frowned a little when she saw her unit chief talking to the section chief. It seemed unfair of her to leave JJ alone to tell Garcia about their engagement, though if she were being honest, it would be easier on her. And her back, which would end up broken from the hug that Garcia would attack her with.

“Think you have a case?” JJ asked, looking in the same direction.

“I don’t know...” Emily mumbled, her unit chief looked more pleased than he usually did when they received a case. “I know that he’s up for a promotion... Maybe he’s getting good news.”

“If he gets promoted, who becomes the new unit chief?” Morgan asked with a small frown.

“Not me, I hope.” Emily turned away when the two exited the office. “I get home late as it is. No offence to Hotch, but his job sucks.”

“SSA Emily Prentiss, Unit Chief.” JJ mumbled, pecking Emily’s lips. “It sounds pretty good to me.”

“What is that?!”

Everyone in the bullpen jumped when Garcia shouted, all of them looking at the technical analyst with worried looks on their faces. Except for Emily and JJ, who both looked terrified. Emily frowned a little when Garcia stomped over to JJ, grabbed her left hand, and held it up to the light to get a good look at the ring before glaring at Emily.

“Why didn’t you tell me!?” She snapped, a large smile forming on her face before she turned to JJ. “You’re getting married!”

“Yeah.” JJ nodded once and smiled a little.

“To Emily Prentiss, bachelorette extraordinaire.” Garcia pulled JJ into a tight hug.

“You’re getting married?” Morgan grinned, looking at Emily.

“Yeah.” Emily said, glancing over at Rossi. “Not really a quiet weekend, after all, huh?”

Rossi shook his head and smiled before kissing Emily’s forehead. “Congratulations.”

The agents quieted down when Hotch entered the bullpen, looking mildly confused. He took one look at JJ’s finger before smiling and shaking both women’s hands. Emily laughed a little when she saw JJ pull Hotch into a hug, deciding not to take his surprise personally.

* * *

“Do I have to invite my mother?” Emily asked with a frown as she and JJ worked on their guest lists. Emily’s was looking incredibly sparse compared to JJ’s.

“Yes, you have to invite your mother.” JJ chuckled, rolling her eyes a little as she glanced at Emily’s list. “Em, your list is sad.” She paused and frowned. “Why is ‘coffee counter guy’ on your list?”

“I see him everyday.” Emily replied, her brow furrowing.

“If you don’t know his name, you can’t invite him.” JJ said firmly. “I thought that would go without saying.”

Emily crossed the ‘name’ off her list before looking at JJ’s. It was at least four times the size of her own, mostly due to the sheer amount of family and family friends that were from Pennsylvania. Emily frowned a little and looked at her list, it would’ve been bigger if some of her friends hadn’t have been killed in the years prior to the wedding. She took in a deep breath before anger and grief could bubble up to the surface. Planning a wedding was supposed to be happy and stressful, not painful.

“What about Clyde?” JJ asked, glancing at Emily’s list.

Emily nodded, jotting down his name. “I hate that guy.”

“I thought he was one of your closest friends outside the BAU?” JJ frowned.

“Yes he is.” Emily smiled. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t hate him.”

JJ was quiet for a moment. “Do you want to invite him?”

“Of course I do.” Emily replied quickly, pecking JJ’s lips before glancing at her list. “Writing this all down is just reminding me that I don’t have a lot of living friends.”

“I’m so sorry, Em.” JJ patted Emily’s arm.

“It’s alright.” Emily mumbled, putting her arm around JJ’s shoulders. “There are a lot of people that we wish could come... but they can’t.” She took in a breath. “But I really should invite my mom, she’ll at least help bulk up my list. Lots of diplomats.”

“My mom might have a stroke if she ends up rubbing elbows with the kind of people who Ambassador Prentiss deems worthy.”

“I’ll teach her how to be pretentious if you want.”

“She’ll just drink with her pinky out and call it good.” JJ grinned.

“That’s how we do it.” Emily replied, writing her mother’s name down on the list.

* * *

Emily sat with Henry, playing cars with him while JJ and her mother talked about wedding plans via-video chat. Idly listening to her wife and soon-to-be mother-in-law’s conversation, Emily found herself grateful that she’d offered to occupy Henry. Though Emily could’ve gone without having to dodge falling racecars when they were thrown into the air every time Henry wanted there to be a pile up.

“Em, roses or lilies?” JJ called lifting up two photos from the magazine.

Emily frowned and looked at the pictures, roses always seemed so cliche to her. “Definitely not roses. Or at least not red roses. I don’t want to force anyone to sit through a stupid cliche wedding.”

“So, we’re not getting married in a castle?” JJ teased, putting the photos down.

“Sorry, Jayj.” Emily laughed, hastily moving her car out of the way of Henry’s monster truck. “But if I’m being completely honest, I’m probably not gonna be welcome in Ireland, and we all know that they have the best castles.”

“Why aren’t you welcome in Ireland?” Sandy asked.

“Remember when she died, Mom?” JJ sighed, smiling a little at Emily’s joke. “She’s making a joke about the Irish crime lord-”

“Terrorist.” Emily corrected quickly, earning a small glare from her fiancee.

“The Irish terrorist group.” JJ rolled her eyes.

“Oh...” Sandy frowned a little. “That’s an awful joke.”

“If I can’t joke about being undercover, then what can I do with that information?” Emily replied, smiling when Henry handed her a piece of the track.

“You were undercover?” He asked with a grin. “Like a spy?”

“No... Not like a spy.” Emily shook her head and stood up as Henry’s face fell, her smile widening. “I was a spy!”

“Wow, Really?!” Henry exclaimed, letting out a loud shriek when Emily lifted him up into her arms and spinning him around.

“Yep.” Emily nodded, hefting the little boy onto her shoulder.

“Like in Spy Kids?” Henry asked, giggling when Emily kissed his cheek.

Emily’s brow furrowed. “Nothing like Spy Kids. We didn’t have gadgets.”

“But the best gadget a spy can have is his or her brain.”

“That’s true with everything, buddy.”

Emily playfully wrestled with Henry for a while, even after Sandy had hung up, only pausing to look at pictures or answer questions. The room was filled with excited shrieks and quiet laughter as Emily chased Henry around the house, allowing him to knock her over and pin her down a couple of times before she’d pick him up and toss him in the air. Henry grinned when he’d finally decided that he wanted to win and sat down directly on Emily’s chest.

“I win.” He exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “Look, Mom! I beat up a spy.”

“Ex-spy, buddy.” Emily corrected quietly. “I’m just a special agent now.”

“Well, I think we’re done wrestling for a while.” JJ laughed and pulled Henry off of her fiancee before pecking Emily’s lips quickly. “Did you make your guest list, yet?”

Emily frowned a little at the question. She’d already made her ideal guest list in her head, the BAU and some of JJ’s family, but the real guest list was tough to come up with. The ambassador would definitely be invited, and she would have to save face and invite some of her diplomat friends. Not that Emily minded too much, despite the prospect of being paraded around like a show dog, those uptight diplomats gave the best gifts.

“I’m still waiting on a couple of Italians, but I’ll tell you as soon as they respond.” Emily replied, sitting up and kissing JJ again. “And you?”

“Everyone I invited has already RSVPed.” JJ smiled, tossing Henry onto the sofa, causing him to let out a loud shriek of laughter. “Including my team, and your team. You forgot to put them on your list.”

“I was busy worrying about foreigners.” Emily shrugged, looking at the binders on the coffee table, each filled with wedding plans. “Do you want any help with the planning? I mean, I could be in charge of the music... Or maybe the cups and ice.”

JJ laughed. “Cups and ice?”

“I’m not trying to take complete control of the plans.” Emily stood up, mussed up Henry’s hair and sat down beside him. “Is there anything you want me to do other than stare at flowers and pick my bridesmaids?”

“You can be in charge of the wedding bands.” JJ replied, kissing Emily quickly. “And getting your dress in order-”

“I already did that.” Emily said quickly. “Am I allowed to take someone with me to get the bands?”

“... Sure.” JJ nodded. “Just remember, they’re supposed to match the engagement rings, okay?”

“Got it.” Emily said, she did not know that. “And Henry’s gonna be the ring bearer, right?”

“Yeah!” Henry grinned, looking away from the TV and grinning at Emily. “I’m gonna be the ring bear!”

“Bearer.” Emily corrected quickly. “You’re gonna wear a suit and tie, and walk down the aisle with the rings that I pick out.”

“I’d rather be a bear.” Henry pouted, crossing his arms.

“Wouldn’t we all.” Emily rolled her eyes and glanced at her watch. “It’s getting late, little buddy. Wanna go get your PJ’s on?”

Henry let out a deep sigh and walked toward his bedroom.

“I’ll check out wedding bands tomorrow,” Emily said when she heard Henry’s door slam. “Provided I don’t have to go to Nebraska or whatever.”

“If my next case is in Nebraska, I’ll let you pick out my marital panties.” JJ murmured, kissing Emily’s neck.

“Hmmm.” Emily hummed, tilting her head to the side and allowing JJ better access. “You’d better hope it isn’t because I’m thinking of a pair that says ‘Property of Emily Prentiss’ across the ass.”

“Classy.” JJ chuckled, kissing Emily’s lips quickly.

* * *

“So, have you decided on post-marital names yet?” Morgan asked as they looked at wedding bands.

“I just assumed that we’d use our real names.” Emily said, picking up a couple rings. “How pissed do you think she’d be if I got her the ‘Irish gold’ rings?”

“I think that I’d shoot you myself.” Morgan rolled his eyes as Emily put the rings back down. “But seriously, names?”

“It wouldn’t make sense for there to be more than one Agent Prentiss or Jareau running around our department.” Emily smiled, glancing at a simple gold band encrusted with diamonds.

If Emily were being honest, she hadn’t thought much about the last name situation. It would definitely be complicated if everyone had to start calling JJ JP because of a marriage. And she was sure that her mother would have an aneurysm if she ditched the Prentiss name. Emily frowned, hyphens would just complicate things.

“I think it’ll be easier to just keep our names.” Emily said with a nod.

“Is that what you want?” Morgan raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Emily rolled her eyes. “Once we’re married, we have the piece of paper. Changing names just seems... irrelevant.”

“How about these ones?” Morgan asked, pointing to two simple bands. “You can get it engraved to make it more personal.”

“Engraved, huh?” Emily felt a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “Sounds like a good idea.”

Morgan grinned widely and went to go get a salesperson.

* * *

Picking Henry up from school was one of Emily’s favorite ‘mundane’ tasks. She loved the way his face lit up when he saw her pull into the parking lot. The way Henry would run to her, even if they’d just seen each other earlier that morning. And every time Henry ran to her, Emily would lift him into her arms and hug him tightly.

“How was school?” Emily asked as Henry climbed into the backseat of her car.

“Good.” Henry said with a smile. “I got an A on my history test.”

“Way to go, pal.” Emily replied happily. “I guess all of that studying you and your dad did paid off, huh?”

“Yeah.” Henry nodded before pausing. “What should I call you once you and my mom get married?”

“I think ‘your majesty’ or ‘Mrs. Beautiful’ would work pretty well.” Emily laughed, looking into the rearview mirror to wink at Henry.

“No, seriously!” Henry said, kicking Emily’s seat.

“You can call me whatever you want.” Emily shrugged, stopping at a stoplight and looking at Henry. “Just keep it nice, okay?”

“I think I’ll just keep calling you Emily.”

“Good idea.” Emily smiled as the light turned green. “So, what else happened at school?”

“We played kickball at recess today. My team lost.”

“Sorry about that.”

* * *

Putting on her kevlar was one of the many things about her job that caused Emily anxiety. It never used to, but now that she had a family back home, Emily understood that now. She understood why Hotch used to call Jack before almost every bust, just in case that was the one time he didn’t make it back.

“You okay, Prentiss?” Collins, Emily’s partner after Morgan, asked with a wry smile. He was funny and took selfies while on the case to send to his wife and two kids, to let them know that he was safe.

“Aren’t I always?” Emily sighed, unholstering her gun and putting in her earpiece.

“I think you’re nervous.” Collins replied, his smile widening. “Afraid you’ll have to get your dress altered if you’re shot... again.”

“More like afraid that I might not be able to get to my wedding.”

“Can’t get married if your dead.” Collins nodded as their unit chief started to gather the rest of the team. “But if I can make it, so can you.”

Emily smiled a little before looking at the unsub’s house. “I remembered to invite you to my wedding, right?”

“Yep.”

* * *

Emily sighed as she pulled up to her and JJ’s house after work. It was six days before the wedding, and somehow Hotch had been able to pull some strings and get his team and Emily off rotation. Unfortunately, that meant that Emily’s team might not be able to make it to the wedding. Not that she blamed them in the least.

With a low groan, Emily climbed out of the car and went around back to grab a couple of files she wanted to work on. Or at least that’s what she’d planned to do. Emily didn’t make it three steps before a black bag was thrown over her head and shoulders. Her hands were pulled behind her back and wrists duct taped together. She felt herself being pulled away from the car.

Time seemed to slow down as her assailant tried to drag her away from the car. Emily growled and threw her head back, managing to headbutt whoever was behind her before another pair of hands tossed her in the back of a trunk. Taking in a deep breath, Emily managed to wriggle out of the back and frown deeply. Of course she would be abducted six days before her wedding.

“Shit.” Emily growled as she felt around the trunk, trying to find something to cut the duct tape with.

She paid attention to the sounds as the car drove through the city, as she felt for something to rip the tape with, smiling a little when it got snagged on something in the back of the trunk. Emily started to tug roughly, hoping that she would have enough time to reach her phone before whoever had taken her reached their destination. A sigh of relief escaped her lips when she felt the tape rip and she was able to search her pockets.

“I left my phone in my purse.” Emily growled, her eyes were fully adjusted to the darkness and she looked around for something she could use to defend herself with.

That is, until the car pulled to a stop. Emily was quiet as she heard someone get out of the front seat and walk around back, getting into a crouched position. If she was going to die less than a week before her wedding, she was going to take as many people down with her as possible.

The trunk opened and Emily sprang up, gripping the man’s shirt and punching him squarely in the face. Just as she was about to attack the others, she noticed their faces.

Rossi, Morgan, Reid, and Hotch were all standing before her. Or rather, Rossi and Morgan were standing before her, Reid was on the ground clutching his face and Hotch was trying to get a good look at his eye. Morgan let out a loud laugh first, followed by a small chuckle from Rossi. Emily was confused.

“What the fuck!?” She shouted, glaring at Morgan. Her heart was still pounding and she wanted to hit him. “What is this?!”

“It’s your bachelorette party.” Rossi explained as Hotch helped Reid up. “Garcia planned it.”

Emily took a couple deep, calming breaths before looking at her friends. Reid’s eye was already starting to swell, and Morgan’s nose looked like it’d just stopped bleeding. Emily found herself wishing that she’d broken his nose before looking at Hotch, it’d been awhile since she’d seen him without a suit on.

“Did any of you stop to think about how stupid it was to kidnap me for my party?” She sighed, hopping out of the trunk. “I’m not even sorry about attacking you.” She glared at Morgan. “I wish I’d hit you harder, actually.”

“Come on, we rented a party boat.” Morgan laughed, gripping Emily’s arm and pulling her toward the giant, well lit boat that Emily apparently hadn’t noticed. “We’ve got all the booze you can drink, an all you can eat buffet, and premium adult entertainment.”

“And we planned your party a few days before the wedding.” Hotch added with a small smiled. “It seemed like the best idea since I’ve seen your hangovers first hand, there’s no way you could handle a hangover on the day of.”

“I’m still having an adrenaline rush, Hotch.” Emily grumbled, looking around at the numerous amount of strippers. “I feel like this is more of a party for you guys...”

“You know it, Princess.” Morgan kissed the top of Emily’s head as they boarded the boat. “Now lets get you a bottle of bubbly and some company.”

Three hours, two bottles of champagne, and one obligatory body shot off a stripper  later, Emily was done with her party. She hadn’t willingly left her chair since she had arrived, allowing herself to be surrounded by her friends, who were all very occupied in having a good time. The only one of them remaining completely sober being Hotch, who had a child at home and actually acted like a responsible adult. Aparently he was the designated driver as well.

“You okay, Prentiss?” Morgan said, sliding up next to his friend with a wide grin. “If it makes you feel better, my baby girl took JJ out tonight too. You’ll be hangover partners.”

“Whose idea was it to kidnap me?” Emily asked, taking a swig of another bottle of champagne.

“... Garcia’s, I think.” Morgan replied with a nod. “She really wanted to surprise you.”

“You’re the best man, shouldn’t you be the one to plan this?”

“You do understand that Garcia loves planning parties, right?”

Emily was quiet before nodding once and taking another drink. “I’m gonna be soooo hungover tomorrow.”

“I think we all are.”

Reid and Hotch had to carry Emily back into her house and dump her on the sofa later that night... Or rather, that morning. Hotch had set a water bottle and a bottle of aspirin on the coffee table before leaving. Thankful that he only had to deal with one more stop before he could go home and try to squeeze in a power nap and a shower before work.

* * *

Anxiety washed over Emily as she laid down in her hotel room the night before the wedding. Her mother had insisted that they keep their wedding traditional, meaning the two women were to sleep apart the night before. Apparently her Catholic mother had no qualms to her daughter, who had been excommunicated from the church, marrying another woman, but was taken aback at the thought of the two of them sleeping in the same bed before the wedding. Sometimes Emily wondered about that woman.

Sleep didn’t come easy to her, in fact, it didn’t come at all. Emily found herself trying to occupy herself with anything she could do, which included flicking through channels on the TV, trying to see if she could spot her and JJ’s house from the balcony, she couldn’t, double and triple checking to make sure her dress was ready, doing push ups, followed by sit ups, followed by laying on the floor hoping for sleep to come. That is until an idea popped into her head.

Emily grabbed her phone and blindly dialled JJ’s number, hoping that the blonde would pick up.

 _“Em, it’s two in the morning. I’m gonna have dark circles on my wedding day.”_ JJ sighed sleepily after two rings.

“I know that you weren’t sleeping, Jayj.” Emily smiled. “Why else would you answer after two rings?”

JJ laughed on the other line.

They talked for almost an hour before Emily finally felt herself begin to drift off. JJ had that effect on her, made it possible for her to sleep when nothing else could. Made her sure about the wedding, confident that she didn’t have any regrets. Not that she ever could have regrets, who could ever regret marrying JJ?

“I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.” Emily mumbled, smiling a little when she heard a snore on the other end of the line before hanging up.

* * *

Emily didn’t think she’d be lost in one of the many church halls on her wedding day, trying desperately to find the room that had her mother waiting for her in it. It was ridiculous that she didn’t know exactly which room she was supposed to be in by now. She sighed, opening yet another random door before freezing at the sight before her.

It was JJ’s room, and the blonde was already in her dress. Emily’s mouth went dry at the sight of her future wide. She looked absolutely stunning. Her blonde hair was pulled back and the veil already in place, her floor length dress that hugged her every curve beautifully, right down to the necklace that her sister had given her was around her neck, shining in the light. The necklace had been Emily’s idea, she thought it was a good idea for JJ to have her sister with her on one of the biggest days of her life. And JJ had agreed.

“Emily!” Garcia shrieked, covering Emily’s eyes with her hand while Sandy moved in front of her daughter, effectively blocking her view. “You can’t be in here! It’s bad luck!”

“My life is bad luck.” Emily mumbled, moving to the side to look at JJ again. “Jayj, you look absolutely-”

“Yes, yes, she’s gorgeous.” Garcia rolled her eyes and pushed Emily out of the room. “We all know that. Get your butt to your room and get your dress on!”

“Which one’s my room?”

“It’s down the hall!” Garcia sighed, spinning Emily the right way before giving her a light shove. “How do you get lost on your wedding day?”

“Bad luck, remember?” Emily called as she headed down the hall. “Tell JJ that she looks beautiful and that I can’t wait to marry her.”

“Like she doesn’t already know.” Garcia muttered, causing Emily to let out a quiet laugh.

Emily opened the door to her room, or at least she hoped it was hers, only to have someone grab her shirt collar and roughly tug her in. She’d been tugged into rooms like this before, usually when she was running late for one of her mother’s many events. The ambassador didn’t seem happy about her daughter’s tardiness in the least as she helped her get into the dress.

“How do you get lost on your wedding day?” Elizabeth sighed, touching up Emily’s makeup. “You weren’t smoking, were you?”

“Mother, I quit two weeks into dating JJ.” Emily replied as her mother sniffed the back of her neck. “And even if I were still smoking, I’m smart enough to mask the smell.”

“Like you did when you were a teenager?” Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

Emily was silent as her mother sprayed more hairspray on her hair, idly thinking about how the ozone layer was taking a huge hit due to her wedding. Elizabeth smiled after a moment, looking into Emily’s eyes. They were quiet for a moment, Emily watched as tears formed in her mother’s eyes.

“Are you alright?” Emily asked, her brow furrowing at her mother’s tears.

“I’m fine,” Elizabeth shook her head and smiled. “I just never thought you’d get married. That you’d never settle down.” She wiped her tears, careful to not smudge her makeup. “And yet, here you are. About to have a wife and a child. I’m not about to lie and say that this is the life I’d hoped for you to have, but... That doesn’t mean I’m not proud of you.”

Emily was quiet, unable to think of anything to say.

“Hey, Princess, we’ve gotta get down to the church, it’s almost show time.” Morgan said, poking his head into the room and grinning at his friend. “You look great, by the way. If my heart didn’t belong to Garcia, you know I’d shove JJ out of the way so I could marry you.”

Emily let out a quiet laugh and looked at her mother. “You should go find your seat.” She said with a small smile. “Can’t be late to the ceremony.”

“Congratulations.” Elizabeth said before leaving the room.

“What was that?” Morgan asked, straightening his tie.

“My mother was helping me get ready.” Emily shrugged, glancing in the mirror and smiling a little. “Have you seen JJ?”

“Passed by her room earlier.” Morgan nodded as he and Emily left the room. “She looks great, Prentiss. You’re really lucky.”

“When can we start planning yours and Garcia’s wedding?”

“I’ll let you plan my wedding as long as you stay away from my bachelor party.”

“Oh, so you don’t want to be locked in a trunk with a bag over your head? That doesn’t sound fun to you?”

“I have a feeling you’d push me off a cliff and call it a party.”

“You locked me in a trunk, Derek. I deserve my revenge.”

“That you do.” Morgan sighed and turned to look at Emily before kissing her forehead. “But after your wedding.”

“And honeymoon.”

“That too.”

* * *

Emily’s heart was beating faster than ever before, painfully reminding her of how anxious she was to get married. She watched as Morgan walked Garcia down the aisle, he clapped a hand on Emily’s shoulder and mumbled a ‘you got this’ in her ear before standing back. Taking in a deep breath, Emily turned to the end of the aisle and felt her heart stop.

Even though she’d seen JJ earlier, Emily couldn’t believe how absolutely gorgeous her fiancee was. How absolutely gorgeous her wife was. Emily smiled widely as Sandy led her daughter down the aisle. She’d never thought that she’d be the kind of person to cry at her own wedding, thank god she was the kind of person who used waterproof mascara.

“Hi.” JJ said when she stepped in front of Emily, smiling widely.

“Hi.” Emily replied, wiping away a tear and trying to blink back some more that were threatening to fall. “You look amazing.”

“Shut up and let me get married.” JJ bit her lip and looked toward the priest.

Emily wasn’t listening to the man in front of them, hardly registering that there was anyone else in the church other than her and JJ. Their eyes were locked, and Emily was sure that JJ wasn’t listening to the priest either, either that or the blonde was a much better multi-tasker than she was. Which was probably true.

“And now the couple will say their vows.” The priest looked at Emily expectantly.

Emily nodded once and took the ring from Morgan, thankful that the Henry had carried fake rings on his pillow since she noticed that he’d managed to lose one of the rings. It was on the floor behind him. With a small smile, Emily slipped the ring onto JJ’s finger with shaky hands, hoping that nothing would go wrong and she wouldn’t drop the ring.

“Jennifer Jareau,” Emily said once the ring was on JJ’s hand, her voice breaking a little. “If I had known when I met you, that one day we’d be standing in front of all our friends and family, getting married.” Emily chuckled a little. “I would have proposed much sooner. You are my best friend, the love of my life, one of the reasons I get out of bed in the morning. I look forward to waking up to you every morning, coming home with you everyday, that is, if we happen to be in the same state, that is.”

A small chuckle passed JJ’s lips, causing Emily’s smile widen.

“I promise to be the best wife in possible.” Emily continued. “I promise to be there for you whenever, and wherever you need me. I promise to be whatever you need me to be. As long as we both shall live.”

JJ wiped a tear from her eye and took her ring from Garcia, slipping it onto Emily’s finger. “Emily Prentiss,” Emily’s breath hitched at the sound of her name. “You are stubborn and loyal to a fault, you are smart, and kind, and despite all of the fears you had, you asked me to marry you. I look at you and I see our entire future together, I see everything we’ve been through, all the steps we’ve taken, and I know that I’m ready to take this leap with you. I promise to stay by your side no matter what happens. To keep you safe, even if it means making you hate me. And I promise to never stop loving you, no matter what happens, as long as we both shall live.”

The priest went to speak again, but Emily wasn’t listening to him. She was too busy replaying JJ’s vows in her head, over and over. Too busy thinking about how in a few more minutes, she was going to be married. She was going to be married to Jennifer Jareau.

“I do.” Fell from her lips the moment Morgan shoved her in the back.

“I do.” JJ replied, smiling widely.

“Then with the power vested in me by God and the state of Virginia, I now pronounce you wife and wife.” The priest smiled widely. “You may kiss the bride.”

Before Emily could think, she felt JJ’s hands cup her cheeks and pull her in for a slow kiss. Emily put her hands on JJ’s waist and pulled her closer, kissing back and trying to keep it chaste. There were children there after all.

“We’re married.” Emily mumbled when they pulled away, foreheads touching.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

* * *

“I cannot believe you actually got married.” Rossi grinned, as he and Emily danced during the reception. “Thought you’d be living under a fake name in Italy by now.”

“Italy is nice this time of year.” Emily laughed, glancing over to where JJ was dancing with Reid. “That must be why we’re going to Rome for our honeymoon.”

“Oh really?” Rossi looked a little impressed. “I thought you’d go somewhere tropical...”

“Well, JJ likes it when I speak Italian, so...” Emily shrugged, her smile widening when Rossi looked disgusted.

“I don’t want to know when you feel the need to speak my mother tongue around your wife.”

Emily merely winked at her friend before looking around at the ballroom. “So which of your many weddings is this one most like?”

“None of them.” Rossi rolled his eyes with a dry laugh. “Mostly because this one won’t end in a divorce, right?”

“Right.” Emily nodded as Hotch approached the two of them.

“Mind if I cut in?” He asked as Rossi bowed out.

“How’d I do?” Emily asked as a new song started.

“Morgan lost twenty dollars because neither of you started to sob.” Hotch replied with a smile. “So, I’d say you did well.”

“I meant, how were my vows?”

“Everything was perfect, Emily.”

They danced quietly for a while, merely enjoying each other’s company before Emily’s presence was demanded elsewhere by some of the other guests. She talked to some of JJ’s relatives and ended up dazzling them with tales from her youth. As Emily spoke, she watched JJ charm some of the members of her own family, smiling widely at their looks of adoration.

“How did you manage to charm my cousins?” Emily asked when she and JJ finally got a moment alone. “My devout Catholic cousins who I only see once every five or six years?”

“I told them about small town life and they felt sorry for me.” JJ pecked Emily’s lips and turned around quickly when Will tapped her on the shoulder.

“Henry’s waiting to dance with his mom.” Will said, gesturing to his son as he spoke.

“Of course he does.” Emily smiled as Henry approached JJ.

“I wanna dance with Emily too.” Henry announced, taking Emily’s hand in his own and grinning up at the woman.

**“Of course you do.” JJ replied, kissing Emily’s cheek.**


	10. The Cord

The sunlight filtered through the gap in the curtains, shining in Emily’s eyes and waking her up. Emily blinked a little and smiled when she realized that JJ was still asleep. Her arms were still wrapped around the blonde, holding her close. Emily leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to the back of JJ’s neck, letting out a small laugh when JJ let out a soft sigh.

“Good morning, Mrs. Jareau.” Emily whispered, kissing behind JJ’s ear before moving down to her shoulder.

“Why would you wake me up?” JJ mumbled, rolling over so she could face Emily. “You are by far the worst wife I’ve ever had.”

“I’m the best wife you’ve ever had.” Emily kissed JJ quickly on the lips with a smile. “Besides, I wanted to tell  you how beautiful you are.”

“You already did that.” JJ replied quietly, kissing Emily again. “On our wedding night, on our wedding day, every ten minutes of our honeymoon, and every day after that.”

“Is that a problem?”

“It is when you wake me up to do it.”

They laid in bed for a while, not really talking, but enjoying each other’s company. Emily’s eyes widened when she heard rapid footsteps heading toward their bedroom, JJ rolled her eyes and pulled the blankets over her head. The door was thrown open, revealing Henry, who was still in his pajamas with tousled hair.

“It’s time to get up!” He announced, running over to the bed and jumping on top of both of the women. “Get up!”

“No, it’s time for sleep.” Emily sighed, closing her eyes and grinning when she heard Henry let out an irritated grunt.

“You promised to play with me all weekend!” Henry whined, flopping on top of Emily and sticking out his lower lip. “You promised, ‘cause I didn’t get to see you at all during your honeymoon!”

Emily opened her eyes and met Henry’s gaze. “And we have played with you all weekend.” She sighed. “But now it’s Monday, and that means the weekend is over.” Emily glanced at the clock. “And it also means that it’s time for school.”

Emily sat up and stretched before shoving JJ lightly. “Come on, we have work.”

“I don’t wanna work.” JJ groaned as Emily climbed out of bed.

“But you wanna show off your tan, right?” Emily teased, tugging the blankets off the bed and picking Henry up off the bed. “And you, my fine friend, need to get dressed and brush your teeth.”

She set Henry down and watched as he ran off.

“It’s time to get ready for work.” Emily sighed, moving to the bed and grabbing JJ’s hands, pulling her up. “We can’t be late on our first day back as a married couple.”

* * *

“Agent Prentiss, you’ll be on loan to Agent Hotchner’s team for this case.” The section chief announced after Hotch’s team was called to the conference room.

“Can I ask why?” Emily frowned a little.

“An agent left the BAU to raise her family.” The section chief replied. “Agent Hotchner has requested that you rejoin his team. Consider this a test run.”

“I thought that it would affect the team’s way of working...” Emily said, her brow furrowing. “I don’t want my relationship with Agent Jareau to put the team at risk, sir.”

“You never let that happen in the early stages of your relationship.”

Emily smiled wryly. “That’s true, sir.”

“I’d get into the conference room if I were you.” The section chief chuckled, glancing over at the door where Hotch and his team were. “Especially since your team is already gone, and you’ll be on desk duty if you decline Agent Hotchner’s offer.”

Emily nodded and almost ran to the conference room, earning odd looks from everyone but Hotch as she sat down in the vacant seat beside JJ. “Hi.”

“You do realize that you’re in the wrong room, right?” Morgan asked, leaning forward to poke Emily’s forehead. “Don’t tell me that you collected another head injury during your honeymoon.”

“Emily is on the team as a trial run to see if we can maintain our team dynamic despite two of our agents being in a committed relationship.” Hotch explained, looking at Garcia expectantly. “I believe that it’s time to present the case.”

Emily listened as Garcia presented the case. Four models were found in Alligator Alley just outside of Miami, all of them having been fed to the alligators. All of them with ligature marks on their limbs and all of them having had their throat slashed at some point. Emily sighed and looked at the screen, thankful that her first case back from her honeymoon wasn’t as gruesome as it could’ve been.

“How long did you know about this?” JJ asked as they were boarding the jet.

“About a minute before you did.” Emily replied with a smile. “So let’s be professional about this and make sure I can stay with you.”

* * *

They ended up bringing in an S&M photographer, called Marcus Carpenter, who had taken pictures of each of the women at separate times before their murders. Emily hated him immediately, mostly because of the way he kept eyeing JJ. And licking his lips when he did so. She hoped that JJ hadn’t noticed the way she subtly placed herself between the two of them at any given time.

“I want to interview him.” JJ said after he’d sat in the interview room for a while.

“No, he just wants time alone with you.” Emily snapped, causing JJ to send her a glare.

“Yeah, and he thinks I’m weak, I can catch him off guard.” JJ replied in an irritated tone. “Let me do my job, Agent Prentiss.”

Emily clenched her jaw and nodded once. “I’ll be observing, though.”

A small smile tugged at the corner of JJ’s mouth. “Of course you will.”

Emily watched as JJ stepped in to talk to Carpenter, sitting down across from him. She had to admit, it was smart for JJ to go in, even if Carpenter made her want to stab something. A frown formed on Emily’s face at the thought before making a mental note to ask Morgan to the shooting range after the case.

“You know,” Carpenter sighed after a bit. “I can make you a star...” He leaned forward, a smirk forming on his face as he made eye contact with JJ. “I just need to get you in my studio, rip your clothes off, and rough you up a bit.”

Emily didn’t hear what JJ said next, she was too busy trying to keep herself from running into that interview room, pulling out her gun, and shooting him in the crotch. She was sure that would make it incredibly difficult for her to stay on the team, let alone in the FBI. Before Emily could take in another breath, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“You look like you’re about to kill someone.” Morgan mumbled, squeezing her shoulder once. “Look at your girl, Princess. She’s not phased at all. She’s gonna get this guy to confess, and then you’re gonna buy us drinks when we get home to celebrate coming back to our team.”

Emily didn’t look away from the glass. “I know what he’s thinking, Morgan.” Carpenter moved a little closer to JJ and Emily felt her skin crawl. “We’ve all seen his photoshoots, we’ve seen what he does to women, if he so much as touches her, I’ll chop his hand off.”

“And I’d hold him down for you.” Morgan replied. “You’ll be fine.”

JJ and Carpenter sat in the interview room for almost two hours before Carpenter confessed. Or rather, decided to lunge at JJ after she touched a nerve. Emily almost reached for her gun just as Hotch stepped into the room and restrained him.

“Thank god, he refused counsel, right?” JJ said when she left the room, offering Emily a small smile.

“Yeah.” Emily nodded once, making eye contact with Carpenter as he was taken away by the LEOs. “I think he just wanted to talk to you alone.”

“You okay?” JJ asked quietly, catching Emily’s attention. “Look, I know I snapped at you earlier, but-”

“You were right to.” Emily replied, offering a small smile. “And I promise I won’t try to keep you from doing your job again.”

“It’ll be hard for me too once you become a crash test dummy again.” JJ grinned, kissing Emily’s cheek and taking her hand. “We should get  you a helmet, actually.”

“We’ll see.”

* * *

“A twister would do this town a favor.” Emily muttered as they drove through JJ’s hometown to visit her mother.

“Don’t be rude, Em.” JJ replied, frowning a little when they passed another barn. “Just because it’s no Rome, or Paris, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its charm.”

“Then why did you leave the moment you turned eighteen?” Emily asked teasingly. “You know, if it was so great.”

“You’ve got me there, Prentiss.” JJ rolled her eyes. “You know, my mom’s gonna be really disappointed that Henry couldn’t be here for our visit.”

“Well, Will gets to love him too, what can we do?” Emily sighed, smiling a little. “Besides, he loves playing with his baby sister.”

“That’s just it...” JJ paused, taking a turn into her mother’s driveway. “My mom is definitely going to try and convince us to have another kid.”

“Oh.” Emily’s brow furrowed.

“Yeah, and I just wanted to warn you. I don’t want you to panic.”

“I’ll be fine.”

 

Emily wasn’t ready to be pushed into having children, but Sandy Jareau didn’t know that. Didn’t know that the more Emily was pushed, the more she dug in her heels and refused to budge. She was sure that after a weekend of hints and prodding, she would vow to never have a child just out of pure spite. Emily knew it was vindictive and childish, but that was just how she was.

“Well, hi there, strangers.” Sandy grinned, pulling JJ into a hug before looking at Emily. “You’re next.”

True to her word, Sandy wrapped her arms around Emily and squeezed tight, almost as if she were trying to give Emily a spine adjustment. Emily swore that she felt her back crack as well, but decided against voicing her complaint, choosing instead to return her mother-in-law’s embrace. Not that she minded in the least, there was something very comforting about hugging the older woman.

“You look great!” Sandy said as she pulled away from Emily. “Have you been getting more sleep?”

“Not really.” Emily chuckled as she walked to the trunk to get her and JJ’s bags. “But we did sleep a lot in Italy, maybe it’s like we have rollover hours or something. I really do feel well rested.”

“Maybe you’re just happy to be married.” Sandy replied, putting an arm around JJ again. “Now get your butts inside, I made cookies.”

“I hope you made enough for us to bring back to the office.” JJ said as they walked toward the house. “Morgan and Garcia almost stabbed me when I told them I forgot to bring them back some.”

“Your coworkers concern me, dear.” Sandy said quietly.

The three women entered the house and Emily took her and JJ’s bags up to her wife’s bedroom. Emily grinned at the sight of JJ’s childhood bedroom, no matter how many times she was over at Sandy’s house, she always found herself entertained by the sight of JJ’s room. Posters from JJ’s childhood were still pasted on the walls, the shelves held soccer trophies and old pictures of the blonde from her teen years with her friends, though Emily was mostly amused that the room had been painted bright pink.

“Em, are you gonna come down?” JJ asked, opening the door and poking her head in. “Or do you just plan on sitting in my old room all day?”

“I’d rather stay in here than hear about how my biological clock is ticking.” Emily replied with a smile. “Has anyone ever told you that your walls are an assault to the eyes?”

“Yeah, I didn’t really think it over when I asked for the color...” JJ shrugged, looking at the walls. “You know, being five and all...”

“Your mom is probably waiting for us.” Emily said, making a show of rubbing her eyes as she left the room.

“Probably.” JJ nodded, following Emily out.

They spent the afternoon catching Sandy up on current events, and being congratulated on the two of them being put on the same team. Sandy had also managed to convince the couple to show her every picture of Henry that they had on their phones, not that it was difficult. Emily smiled widely when Sandy asked her to send her the photo of the three of them at the zoo, right in front of the elephants.

“So, have either of you thought about having another one?” Sandy asked, looking at her cellphone with a smile. “Give Henry a little brother or sister?”

“Will and Megan had a baby girl, so Henry does have a little sister.” Emily replied with a small laugh.

“That’s not what I meant.” Sandy said, looking at JJ. “And not to be rude, but you are both getting older and...”

“I know, Mom...” JJ nodded once, glancing over at Emily with a tight smile. “But we haven’t discussed kids. Like at all.”

“Well, do either of you want another child?” Sandy looked from JJ to Emily with a frown,

“I don’t know...” Emily’s brow furrowed and she looked at JJ. “Do you?”

“I’ve thought about it, but if you don’t want to, I’m not gonna force you.” JJ put a hand on Emily’s shoulder.

Emily was silent for a moment. Of course she’d thought about kids, but somehow she’d never actually thought about pregnancy, birth, any kind of fertilization, hormones, getting bigger. No, that all terrified her, every bit of it, especially the part where she had to actually bring a child into the world, raise it, teach it right from wrong, then throw it into the world. But then again, she was doing the same thing with Henry.

“I think you have your answer, Mom.” JJ said, pulling Emily out of her thoughts. “We’re just not ready right now.

* * *

“So, have you thought about any little Prentiss’s or Jareaus or whatever last name you’ll give your future spawn?” Garcia asked as she sat down on Emily’s desk.

“No.” Emily replied quickly, thankful that JJ had offered to go get coffee for everyone. “And we haven’t discussed it.”

“But you’re like the two best moms in the world to Henry.” Garcia frowned a little. “And you would look so cute with a baby bump.”

“Garcia, I don’t think that I want to be pregnant.”

“But JJ did it the first time!”

“I never said there’d be a second time!”

“What are you two talking about?” Reid asked, turning around and looking at the women with a frown.

“I think that JJ and Em should have a baby.” Garcia said, smiling widely at Reid. “You know, give you another godson, or daughter, or whatever.”

“Ah yes, a little baby whatever.” Emily rolled her eyes. “I can’t think about what kind of name we’d give it. Maybe Torpol.”

“Well, if you consider going through in-vitro fertilization, you should be warned that it increases your chance of having multiples.” Reid said, putting down his pen. “And that way, the baby could be biologically related to either of you, no matter who carries it to term.”

“Thank you, Reid.” Emily sighed, looking back to her work. “But we haven’t discussed children at all. In fact, I’m not sure if I’m ready for kids. What if I turn out to be a terrible mother?”

“Have you seen how you are with kids?” Morgan asked as he approached, kissing Garcia on the cheek and leaning over Emily. “You would make the best mom! I mean, you’re great with Henry-”

“He’s not technically my child.” Emily replied with a frown. “There’s a difference between a mom and a stepmom, I don’t know if I’m ready to be a mom!”

“You’re awesome with kids, Em.” Garcia said, putting a hand on Emily’s shoulder. “I think you should have a kid with JJ. Your kids would be incredible. And you know I’d babysit.”

Emily shook her head and looked up only to see JJ entering the bullpen with coffees in hand. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to greet my wife and get some coffee.”

She stood up and walked over to JJ, relieving her of one of the cups and kissing her on the cheek. “Hi.”

“Hi.” JJ turned her head so their lips could meet. “Why was everyone gathered around your desk?”

“Because I’m beautiful and amazing.” Emily replied, heading over to her desk as the small crowd dispersed.

“Oh really?” JJ rolled her eyes and sat down at her desk. “And when are you doing to tell me the real reason?”

“When we get home.”

* * *

“Do you want kids?” Emily asked as she and JJ entered their house. “... More kids... I mean.”

“Well, yeah, but if you’re not ready, then...”

Emily sighed. “Okay, look, I don’t think I’ll be ready until I’m holding a child in my arms, or looking at an ultrasound... Parenting isn’t something I can prepare for, is it?”

“Not really.” JJ shook her head and frowned a little. “Is this your weird way of telling me that you want more kids?”

“Yes...” Emily froze and thought about her answer. “No. It’s my weird way of telling you that if you’re ready for kids, I’m not gonna get in your way.”

“That’s... not how it works, honey.” JJ said, sitting on the sofa. “But, I appreciate the thought. And maybe we can talk about our options.”

Emily nodded and sat down. “Okay.”

Apparently JJ had actually thought about having children. A lot, and the information Reid had e-mailed JJ on in-vitro fertilization had definitely come in handy. Emily found herself mildly irritated with their coworker, but then again, his loyalties did mostly lie with JJ. And he’d given her the number of a clinic with a doctor that specialized in that field.

“So are we going to make an appointment?” JJ asked with a small smile.

“I really don’t want to be pregnant.” Emily paused and thought for a moment. “Do we have a big enough house for another child?”

“So we’ll get a new place, then we’ll think about a baby.”

* * *

Emily and JJ had brought Morgan house hunting with them, using their friend’s contracting skills to their advantage. After nearly a month, they decided on a two story house in a gated community with a sizable yard, but not too far away from the neighbors. The three of them had inspected the house, looking for anything that could compromise the home’s security. JJ had even marked the areas where she wanted flood lights outside to make sure no one could even go near their home without being spotted by the neighbors.

The two of them had managed to get the entire team to help them move into their new home after the deal closed. Even Henry tried to help out, though Emily and JJ had just given him a box of his toys and had him bring it to his new bedroom. It took nearly four hours to get everything in their new home.

“Why don’t you get your toys unpacked?” JJ asked, sending Henry to his new room.

“Your new house is amazing, guys.” Reid said with a smile, looking at the fireplace. “I’m sure that this is just for show.”

“Probably.” Emily nodded, putting her hands in her pockets. “Not that I’d even know how to start a fire in this thing.”

“You can speak Arabic, but you can’t start a fire?” Morgan scoffed before pausing. “That sounds about right, actually.”

“I actually can build a fire, just so you all know.” Emily replied quickly, looking back at the fireplace. “I just don’t know how this works.”

“We’re just kidding, Prentiss.” Rossi clapped a hand on Emily’s shoulder. “I’m sure you know how to start a fire.”

“So now that you have the house, you can get started on the second child, right?” Hotch asked with a smile.

Emily sent JJ a glance before nodding minutely. “That’s the plan.”

* * *

Emily sat in the clinic’s waiting room, holding JJ’s hand tightly and tapping her feet anxiously. It was their fourth try at implantation, and finally time for the doctors to test JJ’s blood The realist in Emily said that after the fourth try, it was time to look into other options, but she wasn’t about to tell that to JJ. The blonde was adamant about being pregnant again. For some reason that Emily did not understand at all.

“Mrs. Jareau.” The nurse said, entering the waiting room. “The doctor is ready to see you now.”

Emily nodded and stood up with JJ, following her into one of the exam rooms, never letting go of the blonde’s hand. She watched with a furrowed brow as JJ had her blood drawn by the technician, she didn’t like that JJ had to be poked so many times with the needles. Hopefully this would be the last time this would happen.

“I will be back shortly with your test results.” The technician said with a smile before leaving.

They were quiet for a while, each deep in their own thoughts. Emily idly registered that she was tapping her feet and picking at her nails, which apparently annoyed her wife enough to earn her a slap on the arm. A frown formed on Emily’s face as she looked up at JJ, who looked mildly irritated.

“You’re gonna regret it if you keep picking your nails like that, Em.” She said calmly, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “Just try to calm down.”

“I can’t.” Emily replied with a frown. “Too nervous.”

“Don’t be.” JJ sighed, taking Emily’s hand in her own. “This is it. I can feel it in my bones.”

“Well, if you can feel it in your bones, then I guess you’re right.” Emily chuckled.

They chatted for half an hour until the doctor came back in with a clipboard and a smile. Emily felt her pulse race as she and JJ looked at the man expectantly. She knew that a smile usually meant good news, but for some reason all she could think about was how some people smile subconsciously when they’re given bad news. That didn’t help at all with the stress.

“Good afternoon Mrs. Jareau and Mrs. Prentiss.” The doctor said, his smile widening. “As you know, we’ve tested your human chorionic gonadotropin levels.” The technician looked directly at JJ. “Your HCG levels indicate that you are with child, Mrs. Jareau. Congratulations.”

Emily’s jaw went slack for a moment as the news hit her. JJ was pregnant. JJ was pregnant with their baby. She was going to be a mother. Emily blinked twice before looking over at her wife, who wore a large smile on her face.

“I’m pregnant.” JJ mumbled, holding her stomach.

Emily looked back to the doctor. “You’re sure about this?”

The doctor smiled and nodded once. “Yes, ma’am, I’m completely sure.” He paused for a moment. “A HCG level of more than ten is indicative of pregnancy. I can say with complete confidence that the egg has taken.” He looked at the chart. “I want you back two weeks from today for your ultrasound. That way we can make sure the fetus is developing on schedule and in a healthy manner.”

“What about false pregnancy?” JJ asked, biting her lower lip. “Isn’t that a possibility?”

“It would be if this were your first attempt,” The doctor replied kindly. “But seeing as this is your fourth try, I’d bet that you really are pregnant. The ultrasound will confirm my beliefs.

“R-really?” Emily felt her mouth go dry, she looked at JJ and back at the doctor.

“Test results don’t lie, ma’am.” The doctor nodded. “Now, are there questions you have for me?”

“N-no.” JJ shook her head. “Thank you, so much.”

“I’ll see you in two weeks.” The doctor smiled, heading to the door. “Have a good day, ladies.”

“You too.” Emily smiled, turning to look at her wife as the doctor left. “You’re pregnant.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” JJ said calmly, standing up. “We still need to go in for the ultrasound.”

“I thought you felt it in your bones?”

* * *

“There’s your baby.” The doctor said, pointing to a lima bean shaped object on the screen. “I’d say that you’re about six weeks along,” He turned and looked at JJ. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” JJ smiled widely, not taking her eyes off the screen.

Emily took in a few breaths before tearing her eyes away from the screen and looking at JJ. The confirmation made Emily feel light headed, barely able to look at anything properly without feeling slightly overwhelmed. A small voice in the back of her mind reminded her that she might not actually be ready for parenthood. That it was time to run.

“Here.” The doctor held out a print out of the screen with a smile. “You look like you could use it.”

Emily looked up at the man and smiled a little. “Thank you.” She took the photo and looked at it, running a finger over the small blob that would be her child.

“I’ll leave you two alone for a little bit.” The doctor stood up and left the room. “A nurse will be in to schedule our next appointment soon.”

“Thank you, doctor.” JJ grinned, finally looking away from the screen.

Emily jumped a little when she felt JJ squeeze her hand, she turned and looked at her wife. JJ’s eyes were filled with unshed tears, Emily smiled at her wife and squeezed back, tucking the photo in her pocket before sitting down beside JJ. She moved to touch JJ’s stomach, but for some reason, Emily couldn’t bring herself to do it. Her hand was hovering over her wife’s abdomen.

“It’s okay, Em.” JJ sighed, pulling the hand down to rest on her abdomen. “It won’t kick or anything, but...”

“That’s my baby.” Emily mumbled, her eyes filling with tears. “That little lima bean is my baby.”

“That little lima bean is gonna grow into your baby.” JJ replied, leaning up and kissing Emily quickly. “And just so you know, your hand is covered in ultrasound goo now.”

“That doesn’t matter.” Emily shook her head, looking back at the screen. “When do the baby’s ears start working? I want to tell it that I love it.”

JJ chuckled before sitting up and pulling her shirt back down, effectively moving Emily’s hand in the process. “I’m sure the baby knows that, Em.” She kissed Emily’s cheek. “We need to get back to work and show the team our baby.”

Emily thought about the picture in her pocket. “We’ll have to get another photo because you know Garcia’s gonna want one at her desk.” She said with a smile, biting her lip.

“I think you just don’t want to share your picture.”

JJ was completely right. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

* * *

The sounds of JJ vomiting reverberated off the hotel bathroom walls as Emily leaned against the closed, and locked, door. Emily frowned at the noises, silently wishing that her wife would allow her in the bathroom to at least hold the blonde’s hair back, or even be responsible for the saltines. But JJ prefered to suffer alone, apparently. Not that Emily didn’t understand.

“Do you need anything, Jayj?” Emily called through the door.

“No, stay out.” JJ replied, flushing the toilet.

“I’ve seen you have morning sickness before.” Emily rolled her eyes. “Remember when you almost puked on me when we were cleaning up the chinese leftovers?” She chuckled. “You narrowly missed my shoes.”

The water was running inside the bathroom now. JJ was brushing her teeth.

The door opened after about a minute and JJ stepped out. Emily smiled a little and kissed JJ’s forehead, wrapping her in a tight embrace. She wished that there was a way to help her wife, not that she hadn’t already cut significant things out of her diet because they nauseated the blonde. Goodbye eggs, meat, and fruit juice.

“Feel better?” Emily asked, pulling away and pressing a hand on JJ’s stomach.

“Much.” JJ nodded, glancing at the clock on the wall. “We need to get to the precinct before Hotch thinks something is up.”

“I sent him a voicemail of you puking.” Emily chuckled, walking toward the door. “I think he’d understand.”

* * *

“Okay, what’s your pleasure, pal?” Emily asked as she mixed the pancake batter together and heated up the skillet.

“Star shaped!” Henry exclaimed, climbing up onto his stool. “And a square!”

“Ah, a challenge.” Emily smiled, pouring the batter onto the skillet and shaping it into a star. “And what shape do you think your mom would like?”

Henry paused and thought over Emily’s question. “Triangles.”

“What’s up with you and geometric shapes?” Emily teased, pouring another pancake.

“I like ‘em!”

Emily smiled widely and continued to make her interesting shaped pancakes. It was Henry’s job to hold the plate and make sure all of the pancakes were safe and sound. After about fifteen minutes, Emily and Henry had finished making their breakfast, and Emily could hear the telltale signs that JJ was awake.

“Hey there, Jayj.” Emily said with a grin as she got out the butter and syrup. “We made pancakes.” She pushed the plate with the triangle shaped pancakes toward JJ. “These are yours.”

“You guys made a huge mess.” Was all JJ said, her brow was furrowed and she looked about ready to stab someone.

“We’ll clean it up after we eat.” Emily replied, smiling a little when JJ took her plate. “Promise.”

JJ’s hormones were terrifying, and the only indication that she was calm was when she accepted food from someone else. Three weeks ago, JJ had thrown an entire can of soup at Emily because she was still upset about ‘Marley and Me.’ Not that Emily blamed her, Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston really managed to break their hearts. But they hadn’t watched the movie in over a year.

“Henry chose the shapes.” Emily said, watching as JJ took a large bite of her food.

“He chose right.” JJ smiled. “You did well, Em. The baby likes triangle shaped pancakes.”

“My little brother does?” Henry grinned, speaking through his mouthful of pancakes.

“Sorry to break it to you, little man.” Emily sighed, sipping her coffee. “But you could have another little sister.”

Henry groaned and dropped his forehead onto the counter. “No fair.”

“You’ll love that baby no matter what.”

The eight year old looked up and glared at his mother. “Please make it a brother?”\

“I don’t get to choose.”

* * *

“Spill it, JJ.” Morgan said, leaning on Emily’s desk and looking at the blonde. “You have to want one more than the other.”

“It doesn’t matter.” JJ replied, not looking up from her work. “I’ll love it no matter what.”

“Come on.” Morgan rolled his eyes. “I keep getting all that ‘as long as it’s healthy’ crap. I know you know. And I want to know, too!”

“No I don’t.” JJ cupped her swollen stomach and closed her folder before turning to Emily. “Are you almost done? I wanna get home as soon as I can. My feet are killing me.”

Emily chuckled and glanced at her watch. “I’d say, ten more minutes.”

JJ groaned and grabbed the empty ginger ale off her desk, throwing it at Morgan’s head. “That’s not fair.”

“Life’s not fair, Honey.” Emily sighed, continuing her work. “Now play nice with the other kids, so I can finish my work.”

“Come on, JJ, boy or girl?” Morgan pressed after a minute of silence. “You know, no matter what, Morgan works really well.”

“Fine, Morgan.” JJ rolled her eyes. “It’s a neither. The baby has a Barbie doll crotch, we’re naming it Torpol.”

Reid looked up from his desk and frowned. “Why would you name your child after a beta-blocker?”

“Emily’s idea.” JJ chuckled, watching as her friend shook his head. “And we told the doctor that we didn’t want to know.”

“He wrote down the sex on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope just in case we wanna know later.” Emily explained quickly, gesturing to the envelope on her desk.

If she were being completely honest, Emily really wanted to know what the sex was. But JJ didn’t, and what the pregnant woman said goes. No matter how much of Emily’s self control it took to not look.

“And you don’t wanna know, either?” Morgan raised an eyebrow at his friend.

Emily shook her head.

“Come on, just let me see!” Morgan whined, offering Emily and JJ a pleading look. “Does Garcia know?”

“She probably hacked our doctor’s computer by now.” JJ shrugged. “But we didn’t tell her.”

“You need to know.”

“No we don’t.”

“Come on, JJ!”

“No.”

“Please.”

“No.”

This went on for five minutes before Emily closed her folder and stood. She should have just taken Reid out to dinner and left the other two agents to whine at each other, not that they’d notice that the other’s were gone anyway. But since Emily felt the need to be a decent wife and future mother, she gently tapped JJ’s shoulder before kissing her cheek, telling her that it was time to go. Emily grabbed the envelope off her desk and followed JJ out of the bullpen.

“Please let me look.” Emily said the moment they entered the elevator.

* * *

Emily frowned at the evidence board in front of her, silently wishing that this case would just hurry up and end. JJ was two weeks away from her due date,  and since Henry was three weeks early, it was fair to assume that the baby could come any minute. And Emily certainly did not want to be the cliched idiot who shows up after the fact, not that Garcia wouldn’t make a perfect birth coach.

“We’ve got nothing to go off of.” Morgan grumbled, looking at Emily with a frown. “Which means that we need more evidence, which means...”

“Someone else has to die.” Emily sighed, her frown deepening. Sometimes her job sucked.

“Not to mention your baby is gonna be popping out any minute now.” Morgan paused. “So is it a boy or a girl?”

Emily smiled a little at the question. After nearly an hour of begging, JJ had finally let her open the envelope and look at the sex. They were having a daughter, and just because a pregnant JJ was a petty JJ, they’d still painted the nursery a gender neutral color. Or rather painted the walls light blue and added clouds and dark green carpet. There was no way anyone could guess based on the nursery, or the well guarded baby girl clothes that were hidden under the couple’s bed.

“JJ would kill me if I told you.” Emily chuckled. “But I’ll give you a hint, it’s what we really wanted.”

“God dammit, Prentiss.” Morgan groaned. “So it’s healthy?!”

“Yes.”

They laughed for half a second before Hotch entered the room with the news of another murder. Emily and Morgan went to the morgue and had to, once again, look at the newly murdered man. Same MO, same signature, same victimology. It was their killer, only this time, instead of being stabbed nine times, he was stabbed thirty six times. Emily winced at the obvious overkill before her phone went off.

“Excuse me.” She said, taking two steps away and answering her phone without looking at the caller-ID. “Prentiss.”

“Em, it’s me,” Garcia replied, her voice panicky. “Uh, JJ’s in labor! She was having ‘cramps’ about ten times an hour, we’re in the hospital right now, she wanted to call, but... she’s in the middle of another... ‘cramp.’”

“Didn’t this happen last time?” Emily asked, already speed walking out of the building and to the SUV she and Morgan had taken. She’d apologize to him later, but at the moment she needed to get out of West Virginia as soon as possible.

“Yeah, but this time she didn’t argue-” Gracia was cut off by a pained grunt. “Don’t worry, JJ, she’s on her way.” Garcia’s voice turned irritated. “You are on your way, right?”

“I just need to call Hotch and let him know.” Emily replied, starting the car and pulling into the road. “Tell my wife I love her and that I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Okay, got it.” Garcia replied and hung up.

Emily sighed before calling Hotch and telling him that she was driving home, and that he would have to pick up Reid. While he sounded understanding on the phone, Hotch did seem mildly irritated that Emily had decided to leave an investigation. Not that he’d ever mention it, he had a son.

The drive took five hours, and despite being given updates every fifteen minutes, Emily was still panicking about the baby. What if she missed the birth? What if she missed the birth and something is wrong with the baby? What if she missed the birth and JJ gave the baby a stupid name? Emily found it kind of sad the her greatest concern at the moment was JJ giving the baby a stupid name.

“Give me some good news, Garcia.” Emily ordered when she answered the phone. She was still half an hour away from the hospital.

“Em, the baby’s gonna be here soon!” It was JJ, and her tone was a mix of irritation and excitement. “How long until you’re here?”

“Half an hour.” Emily replied tersely, “I have half a mind to turn on my sirens and-”

“You’ll get pulled over!”

“I’ll flash my badge.” Emily glanced at the speedometer. She was going almost eighty miles an hour.

“Do. Not.”

Emily took a sharp turn and pushed on the accelerator, silently willing the car to go faster. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel like the baby is shanking me.” JJ let out a small shriek of pain. “We never agreed to a natural birth, did we? Because this would be hell without the drugs.”

“Get as doped up as you need, Jayj.” Emily chuckled, taking another turn. “I’m fifteen minutes away.”

“You just said thirty?”

“I got a little... creative with my driving.”

“If you make me a single mother, I will use a god damn ouija board to make you help Henry with his homework.”

“Don’t worry, Jayj, I’ll be fine.” Emily replied in a soothing tone. “I’m kind of the expert on not dying. Remember?”

“If you almost die, you’re going to wish you had died!” JJ groaned. “Get here now! I’m gonna start pushing in five minutes!”

“I’ll get there as soon as I can.” Emily said, passing a teenager going at least seventy. “No choosing dumb names while I’m gone.”

“I love you.”

“Love you too, hold her in until I can come greet my daughter.”

“Absolutely not.”

“I’ll be there soon.”

JJ disconnected the call and Emily frowned. She knew that JJ wouldn’t try to hold in a baby just to wait for her, which was very reasonable. With a sigh, Emily narrowly ran a red light before turning into the hospital parking lot.

She ran into the building and headed directly to the nurse at the front desk, pulling out her credentials just in case. “Hello, my name is Emily Prentiss.” She said when the nurse looked up at her. “My wife, Jennifer Jareau, was recently taken in, she’s going to be giving birth soon. Where can I find her?”

The nurse nodded once and typed something on her computer before looking up at Emily. “She’s in the prenatal unit, room 309, third floor. Take the elevator down the hall, her room should be down the left hall.” The nurse paused. “Congratulations.”

Emily smiled at the woman and ran down the hall to the elevator. The stupid elevator music seemed to rile Emily up and make her heart beat faster than it had ever beat before. It was almost ridiculous that out of all of the things that could possibly rile her up, it was that stupid music that was.

Running through a hospital seemed like a bad idea, but Emily didn’t care. JJ was going to give birth any minute now, and Emily was absolutely not going to miss it. There was no way that she would miss the birth of her daughter.

“Welcome to the Thunderdome, Agent Prentiss.” Garcia grinned when Emily entered JJ’s room. “One enters, two leave.”

“You’ve got it reversed, Garcia.” JJ sighed from her bed, looking up at Emily with a smile. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Emily sat down in the chair beside JJ and kissed her wife’s cheek. “How far apart are the contractions?”

“I’ll be ready to pop soon.” JJ replied with a small smile. “How’d everyone react to you leaving early?”

“They didn’t, I kind of abandoned Morgan at the morgue and called Hotch while I was on the way over.” Emily said, laughing a little at the look of horror on JJ’s face. “I think he might forgive me.”

“Our daughter’s middle name has to be Morgan, after the man you abandoned to see her birth.” JJ said, taking Emily’s hand in her own and squeezing once.

It was another hour before JJ was moved into the delivery room, where all of those birthing classes finally paid off. Though nothing could really help her prepare for the entire birth. According to the doctor, Emily was a great coach, despite the small acts of violence that JJ was displaying. She would definitely have a bruise on her cheek because of JJ’s wicked right arm.

“Congratulations.” The doctor said after the last push. “It’s a baby girl.”

Emily cut the cord and watched in awe as the nurse cleaned off the baby. Her baby. She was so small and perfect, Emily felt her heart swell with pride, for her daughter and for JJ. Emily turned and looked at the blonde as she held the baby. She’d never seen a more beautiful sight.

“She’s perfect, JJ.” Emily mumbled, wiping a tear from her eye and sitting beside JJ on the bed. “You gave birth to a baby.”

“I’ve done it before, Em.” JJ replied, not looking away from her daughter’s face. “What’re we gonna call her?”

“I have a couple ideas.”

* * *

“Which one is she?” Morgan asked as they looked into the nursery. “There’re so many in there...”

“I’ll show you.” Emily smiled, as the nurse opened the door to let them in.

She walked down the rows of cribs with Morgan behind her before stopping in front of the far, left crib. Her daughter was wrapped in a pink blanket with a little pink hat on her head. Emily picked her up and handed her over to Morgan, a wide smile on her face.

“She’s beautiful.” Morgan mumbled, situating her in his arms. “Gonna look just like her mom.”

“Which one?” Emily smiled, watching as her daughter opened her eyes and looked at Morgan.

“Don’t know yet.” Morgan replied. he let the baby grab a hold of his index finger. “What’s her name?”

“Rosaline Penelope.” Emily said, her smile widening when Morgan turned to look at her. “We wanted to name her after you, but... Morgan doesn’t really fit with her name, and let’s face it, JJ really likes this name.”

“The next one though, right?” Morgan winked, handing Rosaline back to Emily.

“Right.” Emily nodded once. “Boy or girl, it’ll be Derek Morgan Jareau-Prentiss.”

“Maybe just a middle name.”

“Deal.”

Emily looked back down at her daughter’s face, smiling widely at her. It baffled her that just four years ago, she’d been terrified to even celebrate a holiday with JJ’s family. And now she was a wife and mother.

“You know, I never pictured you ever looking so domesticated.” Morgan said, crossing his arms. “You always seemed like some kind of panther, and now you’re just a house cat.”

“I don’t mind.”


End file.
